The State of Salmon Report

Introduction

The State of Salmon is the first report of its kind to the legislature and citizens of Washington state. Every two years, we will report on our goals and progress in reversing the decline of wild salmon - and also on the challenges we face in achieving recovery.

Wild salmon did not become endangered or threatened overnight. Their plight is the result of many decades of decline caused by more than a century of activities in a growing state. But just as the cumulative impact of millions of individual actions has damaged the prospects for wild salmon survival, the cumulative benefit of new decisions and actions can work to save wild salmon.

The legacy we leave for salmon will also be the legacy we leave for our children and the many other generations that follow us.

Note: For the purposes of this report, the term "salmon" will be used to refer to all species of salmon, steelhead, trout and char native to Washington state.

It isn't just our salmon that are in trouble-it's our Northwest quality of life that's at risk. We're all connected by our land and water."

Gary Locke's signature

~Identification of Salmonids in Washington~

Bull Trout This fish is olive green to brown above and on the sides with no wormlike markings. There are cream or crimson spots. The tail is slightly forked. Bull trout are found throughout Washington, usually in larger reservoirs.	Chinook Chinook, also known as king salmon, do not display the general morphological changes of pink, chum, and sockeye salmon during the spawning state. Typically, Pacific salmon turn from the silvery bright ocean coloration to a darker color as they approach spawning. Chinook are often the largest of the Pacific salmon.	Chum Chum, also known as dog salmon, display characteristic olive-green and purple vertical bars on the sides of the body as they approach the spawning phase. Both males and females develop hooked noses and large canine-like teeth, although the male's characteristics are more pronounced.	Coho Coho salmon are also known as silvers. In mature male coho, the upper jaw forms an elongated hooked snout and the teeth become greatly enlarged. The spawning color of the male is generally brighter than that of the female and is characterized by the dorsal surface and head turning bluish-green. The sides of the males develop a broad red streak.
Cutthroat Body color is variable. The upper jaw bone usually extends beyond the margin of the eye. The hyoid teeth are behind the tongue. There may be a red or orange slash on the underside of the jaw. Spotting is more closely grouped toward the tail.	Pink Pink salmon are commonly called humpy due to the fact that males develop a prominent hump in front of the dorsal fin. Males also develop a characteristic elongated snout and large teeth. Body color in both males and females darkens on the back and sides and becomes a pale whitish color below. Small, oblong irregular black spots are present on the back and sides, and on the dorsal and tail fins.	Sockeye Sockeye salmon turn bright red on the body, and olive-green on the head as they begin to enter the spawning phase of their life. Males of this species develop a prominent hump in front of the dorsal fin. Also, the male's snout becomes elongated and canine-like teeth grow out of the receding gums. Females undergo distinct color change but retain their body shape.	Steelhead Steelhead are ocean run rainbows. Their body color is variable and may be silvery in lakes and reservoirs. They have a red to pink streak on their side and irregular spotting. There are no teeth on the back of the tongue.

our goal

To protect an important element of Washington's quality of life we will have productive and diverse wild salmon populations and we will meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act.

our challenge

Pacific salmon have disappeared from about 40 percent of their historical breeding ranges in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California over the last century. Today, 15 runs of wild salmon have been federally listed as threatened or endangered across 75 percent of Washington state. The reasons for the decline are long term and complex. We over fished, and hatchery fish competed with wild fish for limited space and food. Beyond that, human activity has radically changed the physical landscape and habitat of salmon in the last 150 years. And as growing numbers of people take water from rivers, there is less water to supply the needs of salmon.

Today, the listing of some of Washington's wild salmon under the Endangered Species Act provides a fresh opportunity-indeed, a fresh and compelling mandate-to try harder, to do more, and to learn more about this icon of the Pacific Northwest.

The scale of this challenge is enormous. In the next fifty years, the population of Washington is likely to double, placing even more stress on our water supplies and our land. At the same time, each of us consumes more natural resources than ever before. For example, while the population in Central Puget Sound grew by 36 percent between 1970 and 1990, the amount of developed land grew by 87 percent. The cumulative impact of bigger houses and suburban lots, more paved roads, parking lots and shopping malls is taking a heavy toll on rivers and streams and the fish that live in them.

Our task is further complicated by the complex relationships between Washington state's economy and the land and water that are so critical to the health of salmon. This will require consideration of the economic costs and benefits of recovery activities, so we can ensure that a healthy salmon population and continued economic vitality go hand in hand.

The Endangered Species Act provides powerful new incentives to rise to this challenge. It says, in effect, that if we don't do this ourselves, the federal government and federal courts will step in to prevent further harm to endangered and threatened runs of salmon. This could mean that the federal government would make local decisions ranging from when and where new roads, houses and businesses can be built, to how much water farmers can use to irrigate their crops.

If the people of Washington want to control our own destiny, we simply must make the investments of time, energy and money necessary to change our impacts on the natural systems that affect wild salmon.

our progress

Nearly four years ago, Governor Locke brought the state agencies together that most affect salmon management to form the Joint Natural Resources Cabinet. This cabinet of 12 agency directors has created a long-term strategy to recover salmon, an action plan for immediate steps state agencies must take, and a scorecard to measure the effectiveness of our work.

What is the ESA?

The Endangered Species Act was enacted by Congress in 1973 in response to an alarming decline of many animal and plant species. The ultimate goal of the ESA is to return endangered and threatened species to the point where they no longer need the law's protections. The ESA has three basic missions: (1) to identify species needing protection and the means necessary to protect and recover those species; (2) to prevent harm to listed species; and (3) to prevent and punish the so-called "taking" of listed species and destruction of their habitats.

A species is listed as "endangered" if it is in danger of extinction, or "threatened" if it is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. The Act provides a variety of tools for saving species threatened with extinction. One widely used tool is the Habitat Conservation Plan which offers protection to landowners in exchange for a promise to manage land in a way that minimizes impacts to listed species. Another tool is adoption of protective regulations, commonly called the "4(d) rules" named after a section in the ESA.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service share responsibility for administration of the ESA. Generally, NMFS is responsible for species in marine environments and anadromous fish, while the USFWS oversees terrestrial and freshwater species and migratory birds.

Threatened or Endangered listings in Salmon Recovery Regions

Our progress is tracked throughout The State of Salmon.

Meanwhile, here are a few examples of how the state has worked to comply with the Endangered Species Act. We focused in the last year on negotiating compliance certifications from the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for some key programs that are important foundations for salmon recovery:

The Forests and Fish Agreement received a federal exemption from liability for "taking" threatened species.
A proposed new set of guidelines for shorelines management provides local governments a choice. They can use a flexible path to adopt their shoreline management programs or use a path that has been certified for salmon protection by the federal agencies.
More than 725 state and local transportation projects, many designed to avoid impacts on salmon, were reviewed by the federal agencies and received permission to proceed.
All tribal and non-tribal fisheries in Washington received ESA permits from the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Five other programs have processes in place that will lead to similar certifications from the federal government. These are water quality standards, hydraulics permits, pesticides application permits, hatchery management plans, and stormwater guidelines. As they have in the past, the federal agencies will make their decisions based on the contribution the proposed actions make to salmon, the degree of certainty they have that the actions will be taken, and the state's commitment to monitor the salmon's response.