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I. Background The objective of this biological opinion is to determine whether fisheries conducted in conformance with the plan entitled “Fishery Management Plan for Commercial and Recreational Salmon Fisheries off the Coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California Commencing in 1978," of the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), are likely to jeopardize the continued existence of Snake River sockeye salmon, Snake River spring/summer chinook salmon, Snake River fall chinook salmon or Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon that are listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or result in the destruction or adverse modification of their critical habitat. In additional to the above listed species, other salmonid species are currently proposed for listing under the ESA including three contiguous evolutionarily significant units of coho salmon from the central California coast, the southern Oregon and northern California coasts, and the Oregon coast, Umpqua River cutthroat trout and Klamath Mountains Province steelhead. Conferencing on species proposed for listing is mandatory or optional depending on whether the existing salmon FMP is likely to jeopardize the proposed species. NMFS is currently reviewing the available information and will issue a conference report regarding the recently proposed species shortly. The NMFS has issued biological opinions regarding impacts to listed species from the Snake River annually since listing in 1992 based on the regulations implemented each year rather than the FMP itself. The impacts of the FMP on Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon were considered in a biological opinion issued in 1991 (NMFS 1991a). This opinion will, for the first time, evaluate the potential effects of the FMP on all listed salmonids occurring in the action area. This opinion is consistent with the intentions of the NMFS to provide, where possible, biological opinions that are longer term and more comprehensive in scope. Developing biological opinions with a more comprehensive perspective will be an ongoing effort. Impacts to Snake River sockeye and spring/summer chinook salmon from PFMC fisheries are reviewed in this opinion. However, the great majority of harvest impacts on listed sockeye and spring/summer chinook salmon occur in the winter, spring and summer season fisheries in the Columbia River and, to a lesser extent, the Snake River. The winter, spring, and summer season fisheries in the Columbia River were recently considered in a biological opinion dated February 16, 1996 (NMFS 1996a). An opinion regarding Snake River Basin fisheries will be forthcoming although impacts to listed sockeye and spring/summer chinook are expected to be quite limited given the current depressed status of the species. Since the ocean impacts for the two species were also generally found to be negligible (NMFS 1996a, PFMC 1995),the February 16, 1996 opinion will serve as the primary document summarizing harvest impacts on listed sockeye and spring/summer chinook salmon. Snake River fall chinook salmon are caught in ocean salmon fisheries and fall season fisheries in the Columbia River Basin. The NMFS intends to review the effects to Snake River fall chinook of proposed fisheries in Alaska and Canada that are managed under the jurisdiction of the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) and fisheries in the Columbia and Snake rivers managed under the Columbia River Fish Management Plan (CRFMP). However, there are substantive issues to be resolved for both the PSC and CRFMP fisheries before consultation can be completed. Preseason planning for the PFMC fisheries occurs primarily in March and April. Guidance from the NMFS regarding impacts to listed species contained in this biological opinion is a necessary part of the preseason planning process. The NMFS therefore chose to provide a biological opinion regarding PFMC fisheries to facilitate the preseason planning process. Once consultation regarding the PSC and fall season CRFMP fisheries is concluded, NMFS will prepare a comprehensive summary of fishery impacts to Snake River fall chinook including those which occur in the PFMC fisheries that are the subject of this opinion. In the 1991 biological opinion for winter-run chinook, NMFS concluded that the level of incidental harvest by the 1990 ocean salmon fishery should not prevent the winter-run chinook population from growing, and therefore, continued implementation of the FMP was not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the then threatened winter-run chinook. NMFS also concluded in the opinion that the impacts of the ocean recreational fishery should be reduced to speed the recovery of winter-run chinook to the point that the population was large enough to withstand an unexpected environmental perturbation that would otherwise reduce the population towards an endangered status. Since the issuance of the 1991 opinion, winter-run chinook has been reclassified from threatened to endangered due to continued low returns. Also, new information has recently been developed which estimates the ocean fishery impacts on winter-run chinook based on coded-wire tag (CWT) recoveries from hatchery winter-run chinook. Both the reclassification of winter-run chinook and the new ocean fishery impact information provides the basis for reinitiating consultation on the FMP’s impacts on winter-run chinook.
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