Author: Peggy Mundy

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13:

"Ocean salmon fisheries off the West Coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington are managed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) under the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP) (PFMC 2014a). Management of the salmon stocks in the FMP can be affected when the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) lists evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) of Pacific salmon (Waples 1991) as either threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). If a fishery is expected to interact with ESA‐listed salmon (i.e., result in a "take" of an ESA‐listed species), NMFS initiates a formal consultation under section 7 of the ESA to evaluate fishery impacts, and issues a biological opinion to report the findings. In 2005, the Lower Columbia River coho salmon ESU (LCR coho) was ESA-listed as threatened (70 FR 37160, June 28, 2005). Biological opinions issued by NMFS, beginning in 2006, have analyzed the use of a harvest control rule to determine the allowable level of take of LCR coho in Council‐managed fisheries. In 2015, the Council recommended a new harvest control rule for consideration by NMFS (McIsaac 2015). This environmental assessment (EA) analyzes the environmental effects of implementing a new harvest control rule for LCR coho. The LCR coho ESU is synonymous with the Lower Columbia River natural coho stock (LCN coho) in the FMP. For consistency with NMFS documents, including biological opinions, this EA uses the ESU name, LCR coho, to refer to these salmon; LCN coho is used in relation to Council activities and documents"--Introduction [1.]