Presentation Abstract
Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) have been partnering for decades to monitor Puget Sound juvenile salmonid outmigration as part of the co-management commitment to rebuilding salmon populations that will support sustainable harvest for future generations, which is critical to addressing Treaty Rights. Juvenile salmon smolt trapping projects provide useful information on population abundance, productivity, and life-history diversity relevant to salmon conservation and management. Juvenile salmon outmigration studies continue in most major Puget Sound rivers, but projects are often funded, evaluated, and described individually by a variety of organizations. The goal of this panel discussion is to demonstrate the importance of juvenile productivity monitoring contributions to salmon recovery at multiple scales and for multiple purposes. This panel will bring together entities operating smolt traps to discuss how the data is used for their local management decisions and larger scale regional assessments of population dynamics. A recent project in the Puget Sound brought together smolt trap operators and their data to illustrate the network of these projects and discuss the monitoring similarities and differences. Chinook salmon freshwater and marine survival time series revealed shared trends among Puget Sound populations, while also demonstrating differences indicative of portfolio diversity. Each Tribe, agency and organization uses the data for watershed-specific management decisions while also contributing to larger regional analyses, research and policy decisions. The longevity of this monitoring effort could be appropriately used as a “vital sign” indicator of ecosystem health for marine and freshwater environments.
Session Title
Salmon Data & Monitoring (Panel)
Conference Track
SSE4: Fish Science and Policy
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2022 : Online)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE-panels-105
Start Date
26-4-2022 9:45 AM
End Date
26-4-2022 11:15 AM
Type of Presentation
Poster
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Chinook salmon--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Fishes--Habitat--Research--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Ecosystem health--Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.)
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
Fresh Water Studies Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
How data on small salmon have big impacts, supporting recovery monitoring and informing policy decisions
Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) have been partnering for decades to monitor Puget Sound juvenile salmonid outmigration as part of the co-management commitment to rebuilding salmon populations that will support sustainable harvest for future generations, which is critical to addressing Treaty Rights. Juvenile salmon smolt trapping projects provide useful information on population abundance, productivity, and life-history diversity relevant to salmon conservation and management. Juvenile salmon outmigration studies continue in most major Puget Sound rivers, but projects are often funded, evaluated, and described individually by a variety of organizations. The goal of this panel discussion is to demonstrate the importance of juvenile productivity monitoring contributions to salmon recovery at multiple scales and for multiple purposes. This panel will bring together entities operating smolt traps to discuss how the data is used for their local management decisions and larger scale regional assessments of population dynamics. A recent project in the Puget Sound brought together smolt trap operators and their data to illustrate the network of these projects and discuss the monitoring similarities and differences. Chinook salmon freshwater and marine survival time series revealed shared trends among Puget Sound populations, while also demonstrating differences indicative of portfolio diversity. Each Tribe, agency and organization uses the data for watershed-specific management decisions while also contributing to larger regional analyses, research and policy decisions. The longevity of this monitoring effort could be appropriately used as a “vital sign” indicator of ecosystem health for marine and freshwater environments.
