DRAFT 2020-2021 Winter Mark-Selective Recreational Chinook Fisheries In Marine Areas 5, 10 and 13: 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., adipose 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. Including the 2020-2021 management season, mark-selective fisheries for Chinook salmon have been conducted in Puget Sound for the last 18 summer (May through September) seasons and the last 16 winter (October through April) seasons.

During the 2020-2021 winter season, October through April, WDFW implemented three mark-selective Chinook salmon fisheries in Marine Areas 5, 10 and 13. The Chinook MSF seasons in each area were scheduled as follows:

• Marine Area 5 from March 1 through April 30, 2021;
• Marine Area 10 from January 1 through March 31, 2021;
• Marine Area 13 from October 1, 2020 through April 30, 2021.

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.