Leading up to the 1990s, recreational fishing opportunities for salmon and marine bottomfish in Puget Sound were on the decline. In 1993, the Washington State Legislature created the Puget Sound Recreational Fisheries Enhancement Program (PSRFE) to improve recreational fishing opportunities and increase the economic benefits from the fishery. To date, the program has worked to conserve, enhance, and improve fishing opportunity through outreach to promote fishing, hatchery fish production for harvest, and bottomfish conservation.
The Washington State Legislature created the PSRFE program in 1993 with a dedicated account called the Puget Sound Recreational Fisheries Enhancement fund. The funding is achieved from a portion of the fees collected from saltwater and combination fishing license sales, based on the proportion of purchasers who fish in Puget Sound which is derived through a survey.