[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 126 (Tuesday, July 1, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39068-39070]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-16571]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[I.D. 061803D]


Endangered and Threatened Species; Take of Anadromous Fish

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Final Determination and Discussion of Underlying 
Biological Analysis.

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SUMMARY: NMFS has evaluated the joint resource management plan (RMP) 
for harvest of Puget Sound chinook salmon provided by the Puget Sound 
Treaty Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) 
pursuant to the protective regulations promulgated for Puget Sound 
chinook salmon under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The RMP 
specifies the management of commercial, recreational and tribal salmon 
fisheries and steelhead net fisheries that potentially affect listed 
Puget Sound chinook salmon from May 1, 2003, through April 30, 2004. 
This document serves to notify the public that NMFS, by delegated 
authority from the Secretary of Commerce, has determined pursuant to 
the Tribal Rule and the government-to-government processes therein that 
implementing and enforcing the RMP will not appreciably reduce the 
likelihood of survival and recovery of the Puget Sound chinook salmon 
Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU).

DATES: The final determination on the take limit was made on May 20, 
2003.

ADDRESSES: Sustainable Fisheries Division, National Marine Fisheries 
Service, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115-0070.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Bishop at: (206) 526-4587, or e-
mail: [email protected] regarding the RMP.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    This notice is relevant to the Puget Sound chinook salmon 
(Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) ESU.
    Electronic Access: The full texts of NMFS' determination and the 
final Evaluation are available on the Internet at the NMFS, Sustainable 
Fisheries Division web site at: http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/1sustfsh/limit6/index.html.

Background

    In February of this year, the Puget Sound Treaty Tribes and the 
WDFW (co-managers) provided a jointly developed RMP that encompasses 
Washington coastal and Puget Sound salmon fisheries affecting the Puget 
Sound chinook salmon ESU. The RMP is effective from May 1, 2003, 
through April 30, 2004. Harvest objectives specified in the RMP account 
for fisheries-related mortality of Puget Sound chinook throughout its 
migratory range, from Oregon and Washington to Southeast Alaska. The 
RMP also includes implementation, monitoring and evaluation procedures 
designed to ensure fisheries are consistent with these objectives. On 
April 2, 2003, at 68 FR 16001, NMFS published a notice of availability 
for public review and comment in the Federal Register, on its 
evaluation of how the Puget Sound chinook RMP addressed the criteria in 
Limit 4 of the ESA 4(d) rule (50 CFR 223.203 (b)(4)).
    As required by Sec.  223.203 (b)(6) of the ESA 4(d) rule, NMFS must 
determine pursuant to 50 CFR 223.209 and pursuant to the government-to-
government processes therein whether the RMP for Puget Sound chinook 
would appreciably reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery of the 
Puget Sound chinook and other affected threatened ESUs. NMFS must take 
comments on how the RMP addresses the criteria in Sec.  223.203 (b)(4) 
in making that determination.

Discussion of the Biological Analysis Underlying the Determination

    The RMP's approach to establishing management objectives is risk 
averse and progressive, including: (1) management objectives, based on 
natural production and natural spawning, have been established for the 
majority of naturally producing populations which historically had 
self-sustaining chinook populations and for which data is available 
these management units represent the entire range of life history types 
(races) and geographic distribution that comprise the Puget Sound 
chinook salmon ESU; (2) the RMP derives exploitation rates based on 
conservative, quantifiable standards directly related to recovery, 
which take into account scientific uncertainty; (3) in isolating the 
effect of harvest on survival and recovery, the approach is valuable in 
ensuring that harvest actions do not impede recovery, regardless of the 
contribution of the other ``Hs'' (hatcheries, habitat, hydropower) at 
the same time, the approach is linked to the other Hs by taking into 
account current environmental and habitat conditions; and (4) the 
proposed objectives are generally consistent with NMFS' rebuilding 
exploitation rates (RER), population standards previously used to 
assess the likelihood of survival and recovery of the Puget Sound 
chinook salmon ESU. These standards included an assessment of the long-
term effects of exploitation rates at these levels; (5) the RMP 
includes specific and integrated monitoring programs to maintain and 
improve population assessment methodologies as well as evaluate the

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effectiveness of harvest management actions and objectives. The RMP 
also includes provisions for an annual report. This report will assess 
compliance with, parameter validation of, and effectiveness of the RMP 
objectives. A more detailed discussion of NMFS' evaluation is on the 
Sustainable Fisheries Division web site (see Electronic Access, under 
the heading, SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION).

Summary of Comments Received in Response to the Proposed Evaluation and 
Pending Determination

    NMFS published notice of its Proposed Evaluation and Pending 
determination on the RMP for public review and comment on April 2, 2003 
(68 FR 16001). The comment period closed on April 17, 2003. Washington 
Trout submitted comments to NMFS on the Proposed Evaluation and Pending 
Determination during this public comment period. No other comments were 
received during the public comment period. Several of the comments were 
addressed and reflected in NMFS' final Evaluation and Recommended 
Determination but no substantial changes were made in that document, 
and no changes were required of the 2003 RMP. NMFS considered all 
comments before issuing its final determination on the Puget Sound 
chinook RMP.
    The public comments received and NMFS' response are summarized 
here. The commenter questioned the use of incomplete catch and 
escapement information in the calculation of exploitation rates. The 
commenter also questioned the uncertainty of the data, in particular as 
it related to estimating survival rates by age and mortality rates by 
fishery. NMFS recognizes that there will be some uncertainty associated 
with whatever information is available, and considers the degree of 
uncertainty when making its decisions. To address these uncertainties, 
the data analyses incorporated variability around the productivity and 
capacity stock-recruit parameters, survival variables and management 
error. In making its determination on the 2003 RMP, NMFS determined 
that the data uncertainties did not represent a substantial risk in the 
short term to the ESU, and that the benefits to the ESU in immediate 
implementation of the one-year plan outweighed the risks represented by 
the uncertainty in the data.
    The commenter suggested that the potential changes in life history 
of chinook salmon due to the intensity of the fisheries for select 
biological traits (such as age, sex, or size) may be more than modest. 
Based on the best available information, the anticipated exploitation 
rates in 2003 are expected to result in no, or at worst modest, changes 
in the biological traits of these populations with the implementation 
of this 1-year 2003 RMP. However, NMFS recognizes the potential for 
selective effects of fisheries and will continue to monitor them.
    The commenter suggested that some management units within this 
classification have exploitation rates greater then 50 percent, and in 
those cases the exploitation rate would appreciably slow rebuilding to 
viable function. NMFS' critical thresholds are consistent with the 
concepts in the Viable Salmon Populations (VSP) document (NMFS 2000b, 
as cited in the Evaluation and Recommended Determination), which 
includes the concept of depensatory mortality (see page 12 of NMFS 
2000b, as cited in Evaluation and Recommended Determination). Based on 
past performances of the fisheries under similar conditions, the 
current status of the populations, and the preliminary 2003 return 
information, it is expected that the implementation of the 2003 RMP 
will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of the ESU's survival and 
recovery or preclude most populations' movement toward achieving viable 
VSP thresholds, as required by the ESA 4(d) rule.
    The commenter suggested that improved survival may be more 
responsible for the observed increasing escapement trend. NMFS 
recognizes that it is a combination of factors that have contributed to 
the observed stable to increasing five-year trends in escapement, 
including harvest actions. Overall, escapements observed under the 2001 
RMP have been some of the highest during the five-year period reviewed 
for Puget Sound chinook salmon populations. The management objectives 
in the 2001 RMP are similar to the management objectives in the 2003 
RMP. Based on the past performances of the fisheries under similar 
conditions, the current status of the populations, and the preliminary 
2003 return information, it is expected that the 2003 RMP will continue 
the stable to increasing 5-year trends in escapement.
    The commenter questioned the appropriateness of allowing impacts on 
a below-critical threshold population merely because the 2003 RMP 
demonstrates that the likelihood of survival and recovery of the entire 
ESU in the wild would not be appreciably reduced. NMFS followed 
directions provided in the ESA 4(d) rule in assessing the effects of 
the RMP on populations below their critical thresholds, including the 
Dosewallips River and Nooksack River populations. The Dosewallips River 
population is within the Mid-Hood Canal Management Unit. The 
characteristics of this population, including life history and run 
timing, are represented by the other population in the Hood Canal 
region and by other populations within the ESU. Additionally, the role 
of the undefined spawning aggregations in the adjacent Hamma Hamma and 
the Duckabush Rivers in recovery and their relationship with the 
Dosewallips River population may be clarified as further information 
becomes available. Because it is possible that production in the Hamma 
Hamma and the Duckabush Rivers may contribute to the stability of the 
Dosewallips River population, NMFS' assessment of the impacts of the 
2003 RMP on the Dosewallips should be considered conservative.
    NMFS concludes in the Evaluation and Recommended Determination that 
the potential higher risk that the Dosewallips River population may be 
expected to experience in 2003, in this 1-year harvest management plan, 
will not appreciably reduce the likelihood of the ESU's survival and 
recovery.
    Additional risk to the North Fork Nooksack River population may be 
expected in 2003, under the 2003 RMP, primarily due to the anticipated 
total exploitation rate, in which the Canadian fisheries will account 
for the majority of the exploitation, exceeding NMFS' rebuilding 
exploitation rate ceiling for this population. The treaty tribes have a 
right and priority to conduct their fisheries within the limits of 
conservation constraints. Because of the Federal government's trust 
responsibility to the tribes, NMFS is committed to considering the co-
managers' judgment and expertise when it comes to the conservation of 
trust resources. However, the opinion of the co-managers and their 
immediate interest in fishing is balanced against NMFS' 
responsibilities under ESA. Based on these considerations, NMFS 
concluded in the Evaluation and Recommended Determination that the 2003 
RMP Nooksack Management Unit's minimum fishery regime exploitation rate 
that would be imposed on the southern United States fisheries in 2003, 
in this 1-year 2003 RMP, achieves this balance.

Authority

    Under section 4 of the ESA, NMFS, by delegated authority from the 
Secretary of Commerce, is required to adopt such regulations as it 
deems necessary and advisable for the conservation of the

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species listed as threatened. The ESA salmon and steelhead 4(d) rule 
(50 CFR 223.203) specifies categories of activities that are adequately 
regulated to provide for the conservation of listed salmonids and sets 
out the criteria for such activities. The rule further provides that 
the prohibitions of paragraph (a) of the (4) (d) rule do not apply to 
actions undertaken in compliance with a RMP developed jointly by the 
State of Washington and the Tribes and determined by NMFS to be in 
accordance with the salmon and steelhead 4(d) rule, 50 CFR 
223.203(b)(6).

    Dated: June 23, 2003.
Phil Williams,
Chief, Endangered Species Division, Office of Protected Resources, 
National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 03-16571 Filed 6-30-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-S