Q: What is the Ozette Lake Sockeye Salmon Resource Management Plan (RMP)?
A: The RMP describes artificial propagation, research, monitoring and evaluation actions to increase sockeye salmon viability in the Ozette Lake basin. The plan should increase scientific understanding of Endangered Species Act-listed Ozette sockeye population status, life history characteristics, and factors limiting abundance and productivity. The Makah Tribe developed the Ozette RMP, and submitted it jointly with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to NOAA Fisheries Service for consideration under the ESA.
Q: What is a "4(d)" rule?
A: It's an offer for local jurisdictions to design and implement actions that assist with protective measures and recovery actions under the ESA. Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act directs NOAA Fisheries Service to issue regulations that are "necessary and advisable to provide for the conservation of the species." Under the 4(d) rule that addresses Ozette sockeye, ESA take prohibitions do not apply to joint state/tribal resource management plans that NOAA Fisheries Service determines adequately address those criteria.
Q: What areas are affected by the RMP?
A: The RMP will be implemented within the geographic boundaries of the Ozette Lake sockeye salmon evolutionarily significant unit (ESU). The Ozette River, Ozette Lake and tributaries are included within this area. The artificial propagation programs proposed in the RMP will be implemented on Umbrella Creek and Big River, two tributaries on the northern end of the lake.
Q: Who will implement the RMP?
A: The Makah Tribe will implement all field activities described in the RMP. A steering committee including representatives from the Makah Tribe, Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will provide technical guidance for RMP actions, and assist in evaluating data collected under it.
Q: Why is the RMP needed?
A: The Makah Tribe proposed the RMP as a means to increase viability of Ozette sockeye by expanding their spawning range into the lake’s tributaries. The core beach-spawning sockeye population in Ozette Lake was listed in 1999 as threatened under the ESA because of recent low abundance status, and short and long term declines in abundance trends. Establishment and maintenance of tributary spawning aggregations (from transplanted beach-spawning sockeye) is a strategy to spread the risk against extinction while actions to recover the beach-spawning population can be implemented and take effect.
Q: Will the RMP recover Ozette sockeye?
A: Not by itself, but the activities described in the RMP are carefully designed to be part of a greater effort to improve conditions in the Ozette Lake watershed to recover ESA-listed sockeye. The RMP includes comprehensive monitoring and evaluation and research components. These activities are expected to help identify viability of the sockeye population with a higher degree of confidence, and life history characteristics for which data are presently lacking. Results from this work will improve scientific understanding of factors that have contributed to the decline of the lake population, and factors presently limiting or threatening beach spawner abundance. There are no other entities collecting this information for Ozette sockeye.
Q: How is the RMP integrated with other conservation actions addressing habitat and harvest impacts on sockeye salmon?
A: In proposing the RMP, the co-managers acknowledged that implementation of artificial propagation programs alone was not likely to lead to recovery of Ozette Lake sockeye. The decline of this ESU was probably the result of a combination of factors, including past logging in the watershed, over-harvest before the 1970s, poor water quality, introduction of non-native species, and predation by seals and otters. Improved habitat, spawning beaches and watershed conditions are necessary to rebuild the ESA-listed beach-spawning Ozette sockeye population to a viable level. Research, monitoring, and evaluation actions included in the RMP will help identify habitat factors limiting the survival and productivity of these salmon.
Q: Does this mean fisheries will start up again on Ozette sockeye?
A: Not in the near future. No commercial sockeye harvests have occurred in the region since 1974, and no Ozette sockeye fisheries have occurred since 1982. The state and tribe do not propose resumption of any sockeye-directed fisheries, and plan to protect the population from harvest impacts until all necessary improvements have allowed these fish to recover to a healthy, self-sustaining level.
Q: Did the public have a chance to comment on the RMP before NOAA’s final acceptance of it?
A: Yes. NOAA Fisheries Service published notice in the Federal Register of its proposed ESA 4(d) rule evaluation and recommended determination on Aug. 1, 2002. The agency made a draft environmental assessment (EA) available for public review at the same time. Comments received by the closing dates were reviewed and considered in preparing the final decision. NOAA Fisheries Service Northwest Region posts notice of public comment periods on 4(d) plans on its Website.
Q: Will there be annual monitoring and reporting on effectiveness of the RMP?
A: Yes, and a lot of it. The RMP includes comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programs to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan in establishing self-sustaining tributary spawning sockeye salmon aggregations, and in minimizing adverse demographic, genetic and ecological impacts to naturally producing, ESA-listed sockeye salmon. The RMP applies adaptive management and risk management approaches in its implementation of hatchery and research actions. These approaches are applied in response to uncertainties about the effects of hatchery actions and sockeye salmon recovery needs. The applied approach is to gather and respond to information about effects of the tributary hatchery program, and factors limiting sockeye productivity. In its final determination on the RMP, NOAA Fisheries Service highlighted the need for annual conferencing and reporting of the results of RMP research and monitoring and evaluation programs. Broodstock collection and juvenile fish trapping actions will also be discussed and evaluated each season.
Q: How long will the RMP be in effect?
A: The duration of the tributary hatchery programs proposed in the RMP is 12 years, or three sockeye salmon generations, per release site. This limit on duration minimizes the potential risk of adverse genetic effects of artificial propagation to the tributary-origin sockeye aggregations established through the RMP, and to the core ESA-listed beach-spawning population if the tributary fish stray. The NOAA Fisheries Service determination under the 4(d) rule will be in effect for a 12-year period, from July 1, 2003, through July 1, 2015. Development and implementation of sockeye recovery recommendations made by the Puget Sound/Olympic Peninsula Technical Recovery Team may affect recovery status of Ozette sockeye. Before the end of the 12-year period for which the 4(d) rule limit applies, NOAA Fisheries Service will evaluate the status of Ozette sockeye, and all information obtained through implementation of the RMP, to determine if adjustments to the RMP are warranted.
Q: Who can I talk to about the NOAA Fisheries Service 4(d) determination on the Ozette Lake sockeye salmon RMP?
A: E-mail Tim Tynan, or call him at 360-753-9579.
