2020 Summer Mark-Selective Recreational Chinook Fisheries In Marine Areas 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13: Draft Post-season Report

In the marine environments of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound, abundant runs of hatchery Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) have been mixed with depressed stocks of natural-origin Chinook salmon for many years. Providing recreational anglers with opportunities to harvest abundant hatchery stocks while simultaneously protecting weaker, natural-origin stocks has proven to be a significant conservation and management challenge. The combination of large-scale hatchery marking (i.e., fin clipping) programs and mark-selective harvest regulations makes it possible for anglers to pursue and harvest hatchery Chinook salmon while minimally impacting natural-origin salmon populations. In such “mark-selective fisheries” (MSFs), anglers are generally allowed to retain adipose-fin clipped (“marked”) hatchery fish and are required to release unharmed any unclipped (“unmarked”, predominantly natural-origin) salmon encountered¹.

Since the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) implemented the first marine mark-selective Chinook salmon fisheries in Marine Areas 5 and 6 (Strait of Juan de Fuca) in 2003 based on state-tribal agreements (Thiesfeld and Hagen-Breaux 2005a, WDFW 2008a), mark-selective Chinook salmon fishing regulations have been implemented in multiple Marine Areas in Puget Sound during both the summer and winter seasons.

During the 2020 summer season, May through September, WDFW implemented mark-selective Chinook salmon fisheries in Marine Areas 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13. The Chinook MSF seasons in each area were scheduled as follows, though actual fisheries end dates may have varied if fisheries controls for a Marine Area were met prior to these dates:

• Marine Area 5 from July 1 through August 15, 2020;
• Marine Area 6 from July 1 through August 15, 2020;
• Marine Area 7 from July 1 through July 31 and from August 16 through August 31, 2020;
• Marine Area 9 from July 16 through August 15, 2020;
• Marine Area 10 July 16 through August 31, 2020;
• Marine Area 11 July 1 through September 30, 2020 (five days a week, closed Thursdays and Fridays);
• Marine Area 12 July 1 through September 30, 2020; and
• Marine Area 13 May 1 through September 30, 2020.

All fisheries were monitored and sampled as planned pre-season, though fisheries were closed until May 5, 2020, due to the COVID-10 pandemic.

¹ The regulations specific to summer mark-selective fisheries in Puget Sound Marine Catch Areas allowed for the retention of up to two legal-sized (>22 inches [56 cm]) marked Chinook salmon per day and required the immediate release of all unmarked or sublegal Chinook salmon. Additionally, anglers were: i) required to use single-point, barbless hooks while fishing for salmon, ii) held to a combined (all salmon species) two-fish daily limit, and iii) held to a handling rule that prevented them from bringing unmarked and/or sublegal Chinook aboard their vessels.