Oregon Ocean Salmon Fisheries: Annual Status Report, 1996

Identification Information

Citation

Originator: Schindler, Eric, Tom Loynes, and Rodney J. Kaiser

Publish Date: April 1998

Online Link: None

BPA Project #:

Contact Information

Agency: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Name: Cedric Cooney

Job Position: Natural Resources Data and Systems Manager

Telephone: 503-947-6094

E-Mail Address: Cedric.X.Cooney@odfw.oregon.gov

Description

Abstract: The Ocean Salmon Management Program (OSMP) monitors ocean commercial and recreational salmon fisheries, coordinates Oregon coastal salmon spawning surveys, and conducts ocean and coastal river's investigations for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). The program uses data from these and other sources to develop management strategies to effectively manage Oregon's salmon resources, and to evaluate proposed ocean salmon fishery regulations. Major forums in which OSMP staff participate include the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) and its salmon technical teams (STT and SSC), the Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) and their technical committees, and the Klamath Fishery Management Council (KFMC). The OSMP fulfills Oregon's technical and management responsibilities to these management entities as directed under the U.S./Canada Salmon Interception Treaty (1986), the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MFCMA) PL 94-265 (1976), and the Anadromous Fisheries Act 89-304. This report summarizes the activities of OSMP's Ocean Salmon Sampling Project for the 1996 ocean season. In 1996, we collected and analyzed data on Oregon's catch and fishing effort, recovered coded wire tags (CWTs), and gathered average weight data from commercial salmon landings. We also collected chinook salmon scales for aging. During 1996, we conducted an extensive creel of the Tillamook Bay coastal estuary and nearshore ocean fall chinook fisheries. We collected tissue samples from chinook for genetic stock analysis of a troll fishery near Gold Beach. The OSMP sampling project is permanently staffed by a project leader and an assistant project leader at Newport, and two seasonal sampling coordinators; one each at Tillamook and Charleston. The sampling coordinators serve as liaison between field samplers, fishery participants, and program staff at Newport; deliver data and coded wire tags to Newport; and also provide additional sampling when needed. The Oregon Coast has twelve substantial ocean ports or access points to the ocean salmon fishery. In 1996, we sampled nine of the primary Oregon coastal ports, utilizing seventeen seasonal samplers: four were commercial troll samplers, seven were recreational samplers, and six were "combination" commercial-recreational samplers. Several additional samplers were picked up on loan from other projects or were hired for very short periods (Appendix Table 1). One additional employee helped edit and process field sampling data under the direction of OSMP's Data Management Project.

Purpose: The commercial salmon troll fishery was developing off the Oregon Coast by the year 1912 (Mullen, 1981). By 1919, there were between one and two thousand boats trolling off the mouth of the Columbia River. The State of Oregon began recording troll landings separately from gillnet fisheries in 1925. Landings of ocean troll caught coho salmon remained relatively stable from 1925 to 1941, with landings between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 pounds (dressed weight: head-on, viscera removed) for most years (Figure 1 ). From 1942 to 1950 catches remained near 1,000,000 pounds annually, but by 1957 landings had climbed back up to 3,400,000 pounds. The El Nino of 1958-59 resulted in landings dropping back below 1,000,000 pounds or 200,000 fish. During the 1960s and early 1970s, improved hatchery production and rearing techniques, a growing troll fleet, and good ocean survival rates of smolts to adults resulted in record landings that peaked in 1976 with 1,800,000 coho landed. From the mid 1970s and continuing into the 1990s, Oregon's ocean coho fishery has been characterized by continuing poor ocean environmental conditions and poor overall survival, increasing management restrictions, and reduced ocean harvest opportunities. Although chinook harvest by the troll fishery has also seen dramatic fluctuations, the long term trend has been one of increasing landings. The troll chinook fishery had record harvests in 1987 and 1988. The late 1980s and early 1990s have seen a decline in harvest dLie to decreases in many stocks, concern for critical natural stocks under both state and federal management and the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), along with increasing allocation conflicts between river and ocean user groups. Historically, coho salmon predominated in the landings, but for the last decade chinook landings have equaled coho, and in many years made up the majority of the catch. This is primarily due to lower coho survival rates and much higher chinook survival rates and catch in the late 1980s (Figure 1, Table 1). Chinook will continue to predominate in the landings until coho abundance increases enough to allow fisheries to resume.

Time Period of Content: 1946-1996

Geographic Extent: Pacific Ocean, bays and ports of Oregon

Status: Final

Use Constraints:

Format: PDF file

Data Quality Information

Lineage-Source:

Data Information

No data information was supplied.

Entity and Attribute Information

Attributes Description: Field attribute information is available in the attached file(s).

Bibliography Information

Field Name	Value
Biblio ID	5063
Year	1996
Publisher
Request Type	Report
Location	Salem HQ
Date Created	1998 April
Date Cataloged	8/9/2006
Date Published	1998
Type	book
Pages	1-113
Volume
Status	2
Descriptor	ocean salmon; Harvest; Hatchery; Coast, OR
Date Entered	2006-08-09 00:00:00
Location In Clackamas Library	S wall, E end, Oregon Fishery statistics; N2W Ocea
Author	Eric Schindler; Tom Lynes; Rodney J Kaiser
Duplicates	1
Number Remaining After Requests
Presumed All Distributed
Back Room Duplicates	4
Author	Kaiser, R.J.; Schindler, E.; Loynes, T.
Risk	Hatchery; Harvest
Species
Disposition Of Requests	State Archive: Request filled
Disposition Of Requests	StreamNet Library: Requested, but no copies available

Is a physical copy maintained for reference at Headquarters? No