DRAFT 2022 Ocean Selective Fishery Sampling Report

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) adopted 2022 recreational and commercial troll fisheries for all salmon species between Cape Falcon, Oregon, and the U.S./Canada border. Recreational and commercial mark-selective fisheries (MSFs) for coho were included in all four marine areas of coastal Washington (Marine Areas 1, 2, 3, and 4; Figure 1). Council-area fisheries were adopted based on assumptions regarding coho and Chinook abundance, distribution of stocks, Chinook age class distributions, coho mark rates, compliance with selective fishery regulations, and incidental mortality.

The PFMC adopted ocean coho MSFs in Marine Areas 1 through 4 for the twenty-fourth consecutive year, following state-tribal agreement during the North of Falcon process. No Chinook MSFs were recommended by the Council’s Salmon Advisory Subpanel nor adopted by the PFMC in 2022.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Ocean Sampling Program (OSP) continued its intensive monitoring program in all ocean ports during the salmon fishing season to collect data to estimate key parameters characterizing the fishery and its impacts on unmarked salmon. All salmon fishery openings were monitored in 2022. Sampling activities included on-water observation, a Voluntary Trip Report (VTR) system, and dockside creel sampling. Among other parameters, sampling activities emphasized data collection needs for the estimation of i) the mark rate of the targeted coho population, ii) the total number of coho harvested by mark-status, including an estimate of angler compliance rate with coho MSF regulations, iii) the total number of coho released (by mark-status), iv) the coded-wire tag (CWT) stock composition of landed coho, and v) the total mortality of marked and unmarked coho.