Fish

Fish/Chinook Salmon/WRIAS 7, 8 And 9

Salmonid fishes native to King County include chinook, coho, sockeye/kokanee, pink and chum salmon, rainbow (including anadromous form called "steelhead"), cutthroat, bull and dolly varden trout and pygmy and mountain whitefish. Each of these species has a diverse life history and relies upon a range of habitats for spawning, rearing, feeding and migration. They also have major cultural, economic and political roles in the Pacific Northwest. Throughout much of Washington state, the harvest and hatchery propagation of these fish populations and to a lesser extent, their habitat, are co-managed by the State of Washington, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the treaty Indian tribes. Although King County does not manage fish populations directly, it does have jurisdictional responsibility for many activities, including land-use regulation, which greatly influences the quantity and quality of salmon habitats.

This indicator is based on natural chinook escapement, which is the number of mature, adult chinook returning to their stream of origin to spawn naturally each year. It is an indicator of the abundance of Chinook and can be used to describe the overall health of marine and freshwater ecosystems.

King County includes all or portions of four major watersheds, which are also identified by Watershed Resource Inventory Area (WRIA): the Snohomish (WRIA 7), Cedar/Lake Washington (WRIA 8), Green/Duwamish (WRIA 9) and Puyallup/ White (WRIA 10). Chinook salmon recovery goals were established to be reflective of characteristics of a viable salmon population: abundance, geographic distribution, genetic diversity and productivity. These recovery goals were established for watersheds through the cooperative Puget Sound Shared Strategy process.

Status: 2006 fish returns in each WRIA were up by almost double from 2005, and likely a result of much reduced harvest in British Columbia and Washington waters. Chinook escapement for 2006 was about 25 percent of the 2055 chinook population target and in general, Chinook escapement throughout the region was much reduced with the notable exception of the Cedar River. Natural variations in returns is expected due to a wide variety of influencing factors.

Influencing factors: Natural chinook escapement is related to the quality of the county's rivers and streams, along with several other factors such as precipitation, hatcheries, harvest, and flow management. Some annual variation in salmon returns is to be expected and unrelated to local human influences. For example, natural cycles of ocean warming and cooling and longer term trends in climate can also greatly affect local salmonid productivity. Local declines in naturally-spawning chinook are believed to be greater than would be expected from cyclic patterns or long-term climate changes alone, however, due to the combined effects of habitat degradation, harvest and hatchery management.

Existing DNRP response: Inter-jurisdictional, watershed-based salmon conservation plans have been completed for WRIAs 7, 8, 9 and 10. The plans were submitted to federal agencies for review in 2005, and they include actions for meeting long-term recovery outcome goals as illustrated in Chart 2. King County serves as the lead agency for two WRIA's and participates in the efforts and activities of all four. The county will continue its participation in the WRIA process and the larger, regionwide Shared Strategy For Puget Sound process to secure funding for and implement the measures identified in these plans toward habitat improvement projects that should help to recover the species.

Priority new actions: The long-term outcome is to recover chinook populations to the average annual abundance targets set for 2055. In addition, King County is entering the implementation phase for the WRIA 7, 8 and 9 Salmon Conservation and Habitat Plans.

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