Elwha Watershed: Priority Stocks
From Elwha Watershed Salmon Recovery Planning Efforts, June 30, 2004,
p 26.
Elwha Chinook Recovery Goals
Abundance and productivity targets for threatened Chinook salmon populations
in Puget Sound have been developed by Federal, State and tribal fisheries
biologists through the work associated with the implementation of the
Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act
Elwha Chinook Escapement Planning Targets in Comparison
With Mean Escapement Over the Last Fifteen Years
Escapement Planning Targets with Productivity in
Parentheses
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Mean Escapement (1987 – 2001)
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17,000 (1.0*)
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6,900 (4.6*)
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1,319
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*Note: Productivity is expressed as adults produced per spawner.
The planning targets indicate a range of escapement and the associated
productivities (or adult returns per spawner) that would constitute recovery.
The range is needed to show that abundance and productivity are related,
and even under recovery conditions, will tend to vary inversely (the
productivity declines when the abundance increases and vice versa). Thus,
the range of related target escapements and productivities shown represents
the recovery goals.
Elwha Bulltrout Recovery Goals
From U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Draft Recovery Plan for
the Coastal-Puget Sound Distinct Population Segment of Bull Trout (Salvelinus
confluentus) , volume
II: Olympic Peninsula Management Unit (2004)
Recovery targets for the Olympic Peninsula Management Unit:
- Maintain or expand the current distribution of bull trout in the
six
identified core areas. The 10 currently identified local populations
(Skokomish (2), Dungeness (2), Elwha (1), Hoh (2), Quinault (2), Queets
(1)) will be used as a measure of broadly distributed spawning and rearing
habitat within these core areas. In addition, spawning distribution in the
two potential local populations that are essential to recovery (one in the
Skokomish core area, one in the Elwha) should be restored or confirmed.
- Achieve minimum estimated abundance of at least 5,700 adult bull
trout spawners in the Olympic Peninsula Management Unit, including
at least 1,000 spawning adults in each of the Dungeness, Elwha, Hoh,
Queets, and Quinault core areas and at least 700 spawning adults in
the Skokomish core area. Estimates of the recovered abundance for bull
trout in this management unit are based on a recommended minimum
abundance of 1,000 adult spawners to reduce the likelihood of genetic
drift and the professional judgement of the recovery team. Estimates also
included consideration of surveyed fish densities, habitats, and potential
fish production after threats have been addressed. The recovered
abundance level in the Skokomish core area will be limited by available
habitat and is estimated to be 700 adult spawners when the core area
reaches its recovered potential.
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