Common use of PUGET SOUND CHINOOK SALMON Clause in Contracts

PUGET SOUND CHINOOK SALMON. The Puget Sound Chinook Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) was listed as threatened on March 24, 1999 by NMFS and the threatened status was reconfirmed on June 28, 2005 (FR, 2005b). Fall, spring, and summer Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) occur within the Skagit River system, and fall Chinook occur within the Samish River. There are six different Chinook salmon populations recognized in the Skagit Basin. These six populations are: lower Skagit, upper Skagit, lower Sauk, upper Sauk, Suiattle, and upper Cascade populations (Xxxxx, 2003). Within the Coverage Area, Chinook occur throughout numerous watercourses. Chinook populations within the Skagit River have been in long-term decline. Catch data from the terminal area have shown a declining trend since 1935 (SRSC and WDFW, 2005). Of the six Chinook populations in the Skagit River, all but the Suiattle are listed as depressed in the 2002 WDFW Salmonid Stock Inventory (XxXX). The Suiattle population was listed as healthy. In the Samish River system, the Chinook population is a non-native stock, and the population status is described as unknown in the 2002 XxXX report. Two distinct life history strategies occur within these populations: stream type and ocean type. Stream types reside longer in fresh water and migrate seaward as yearlings or older. Ocean types migrate to sea as sub-yearlings, typically within the first 3 months after emergence. A detailed description of Skagit River Chinook life histories is presented in the Skagit Chinook Recovery Plan (SRSC and WDFW, 2005). All six wild Skagit Chinook salmon stocks include delta rearing life history strategies in their populations. Juvenile Chinook utilize the deltas (estuaries) adjacent to Skagit, Samish, and Xxxxxxx Xxxx to varying degrees, depending on their specific life history type and “sub” type. For example, a portion of the ocean type Chinook are delta rearing migrants that utilize the tidal delta habitat for several weeks to several months before migrating to Skagit Bay (SRSC and WDFW, 2005), while the xxxx migrants travel downstream directly to Skagit Bay and do not rear in the delta habitat. The lack of estuary habitat in the Skagit Basin area has been identified as a limiting factor for Chinook salmon populations (Xxxxx, 2003). The loss of delta channel edge and blind channel habitats preferred by juvenile Chinook for rearing is limiting the Chinook population levels in number and size (SRSC and WDFW, 2005). Limitations in current delta habitat conditions are also displacing juvenile Chinook from delta habitat to Skagit Bay habitat, and forcing a change in their life history strategy from delta rearing to fry migrants. Literature shows that fry migrant survival is one order of magnitude lower than that of delta rearing individuals (SRSC and WDFW, 2005).