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Draft TRT Document – for Discussion Purposes – OK to circulatecontiguous United States began to decline in 1895 after only a few years of intensiveharvest. Using a harvest rate range of 30-50%, the estimated peak run size for PugetSound would range from 409,200–682,000 fish (@ 4.5 kg average weight).Alternatively, Gayeski et al. (2011) expanded the 1895 harvest data, including estimatesof unreported catch and using an average size of 3.6 kg, to approximate historicalabundance. Their estimate ranged (90% posterior distribution) from 485,000 to 930,000with a mode of 622,000. In either case, it is clear that the historical abundance ofsteelhead was at least an order or magnitude greater than what is observed currently.Rathbun (1900) reports that the steelhead fishery occurred mainly in the winterand the majority of the harvest occurred in the lakes and rivers. Later reports describe themajority of the harvest occurring in terminal fisheries (i.e., gill nets or pound nets) inSkagit, Snohomish, King, and Pierce Counties (Cobb 1911). The county by countyanalysis suggests that the level of inclusion of Fraser River steelhead in the catchestimates was fairly low and that the majority of steelhead were likely intercepted in theirnatal basins (Appendix 7).250200Number of Fish (1,000s)1501005001885 1890 1895 1900 1905 1910 1915 1920 1925 1930YearFigure 5. Harvest of steelhead in Puget Sound (1889-1925). The y-axis is total catch in numberof fish. In years without data points harvest was reported as a combinedsalmon/steelhead harvest. Data from Washington Department of FisheriesAnnual/Biannual Reports (1890-1920), Wilcox (1898), Rathbun (1900), Wilcox(1905), and Cobb (1911).28
Draft TRT Document – for Discussion Purposes – OK to circulateEven by 1898, the Washington State Fish Commissioner noted, “The run of thisclass of fish in the state on the whole has greatly depreciated, and the output for thepresent season from the best information possible is not fifty percent of what it was twoor three years ago. Very little has been put towards the protection of this class ofsalmon…” (Little 1898). Catches continued to decline from 1900 through the 1920s(Figure 3).The management of steelhead was ultimately transferred to the newly formedWashington Department of Game in 1921. In 1925, the Washington State Legislatureclassified steelhead has a game fish, but only above the mouth of any river or stream(WDFG 1928), although by that time the Puget Sound catch was greatly diminished.Commercial harvest of steelhead in Puget Sound fell to levels generally below 10,000fish. In 1932, the newly formed Washington State Game Commission prohibited thecommercial catch, possession, or sale of steelhead (Crawford 1979). After 1932,estimates of Puget Sound steelhead abundance were based on sportfisher catch, tribalcatch, and spawning ground surveys.Pre-1970 Abundance: Basin Specific InformationNooksack RiverWilcox (1898) reports that the fishery for steelhead in the Nooksack River wascarried out up to 18 to 20 miles upstream from the mouth. For the 1895 fishery, Wilcox(1898) notes that 300,000 kg (660,000 lbs) of steelhead were caught in the NooksackRiver alone (most other sources present harvest on a county basis). This would represent66,000 fish (@ 4.5 kg/fish). On a county-wide basis, Whatcom County, continued toreport a substantial steelhead fishery into the early 1900s. It is unclear to what extentFraser River steelhead were captured by Whatcom County fishers.Biological surveys during June and July 1921 of the North Fork Nooksack Riverand its tributaries noted that steelhead spawned in most of the tributaries (Norgore 1921).Surveys conducted in 1930 identified several “medium-sized” runs in the North, Middle,and South Fork Nooksack rivers (WDFG 1932). Sport fishery catches in the 1940s and1950s suggest that abundance has declined considerably and only relatively low numbersof steelhead were present, although glacial sediment in the North Fork and Middle ForkNooksack River likely limits observation, fishability, and ultimately sport harvest.Samish RiverThere is very little information on the early abundance of steelhead in the SamishRiver and Bellingham Bay tributaries. The Samish River Hatchery was built in 1899, butdid not begin intercepting steelhead for broodstock until 1912. Production levels duringthe initial years would have required a few hundred female broodstock (Appendix x).Skagit River29
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Appendix 12. TRT score sheet for id
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Draft TRT Document â for Discussion Purposes ... - NWIFC Access