Comprehensive Management Plan for Puget Sound Chinook: Harvest Management Component - Annual Postseason Report 2009-10 Fishing Season

This annual report on the Puget Sound Chinook Comprehensive Harvest Management Plan summarizes results of salmon fisheries occurring between May 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010. This includes comparisons of pre-season projections with actual catch in all commercial and some recreational fisheries. 2008 Recreational catch estimates are presented for those areas where data were not available in time for the 2008-2009 report. Chinook spawning escapement estimates for 2009 are reported for all Puget Sound populations, with details on escapement surveys and estimation methods. Comparisons are also made between pre-season projections of escapement, and actual results.

Commercial Chinook catch in Puget Sound pre-terminal net fisheries (i.e., the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Rosario / Georgia Straits) was less than projected in all areas. This was primarily a result of the lack of sockeye-directed fisheries, due to weak Fraser River sockeye returns. Commercial catches in the Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish/Snohomish, and South Puget Sound terminal areas were all below expectations, although catches in some South Sound extreme terminal areas were near or above projection. Catch exceeded preseason projections in Hood Canal.

Marine and freshwater landed recreational Chinook catch in the 2008-2009 season was estimated, from a combination of creel and preliminary Catch Record Card data, to be 45,800, slightly less than the pre-season projection of 47,100. Creel survey-based estimates of catch in 2009-2010 mark-selective recreational fisheries in Areas 5, 7, 8.1- 8.2, 9-10, and 11, Skagit, Puyallup and Carbon rivers are included in this report. Total mortality estimates (catch + non-landed mortality) for the 2009-10 marine area selective fisheries were generally lower than pre-season expectations.

Spring Chinook escapement was below prediction for Skagit and Dungeness, at expectation for Nooksack, and above predicted for White River. Nooksack and Dungeness were both below the lower thresholds, while Skagit and White River were above their lower thresholds.

For summer/fall stocks, escapement was considerably lower than predicted for several units, including Skagit, Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Green, Nisqually and Hoko. Returns were closer to predictions, but still below for Lake Washington and Skokomish. Escapement exceeded expectations for the Puyallup, Mid-Hood Canal, and Elwha. The Stillaguamish, Green, Mid-Hood Canal and Hoko units were below their lower thresholds. Coded-wire tag sampling of 2008 commercial fisheries achieved sampling rate above 20% in most, but not all areas. Areas 12C/12H (Hood Canal), 13A (Carr Inlet) and Area 13 D/F (Deep South Sound/Budd Inlet) were the areas with the most substantial catches, but with sampling rates below 20%. All marine area recreational fisheries were sampled at rates between 10% and 50% for the year.