Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

The Kitsap Sun and North Kitsap Herald published reports about the annual transfer of coho salmon smolts from the state’s George Adams hatchery in Shelton to the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s net pens in Port Gamble Bay near Kingston. The fish will stay in the net pens until June, when they’ll be released. The fish are expected to return to the bay in a year and …

The Skokomish Tribe is wrapping up the first five years of an intensive 16-year study to enhance steelhead populations in Hood Canal rivers. Puget Sound steelhead are listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act.

An important component of the study is sampling redds that are created each spring by naturally spawning steelhead.

The tribe has counted nearly 200 salmon egg nests, also called redds, …

The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and State of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are working together to boost pink salmon populations in the Dungeness River watershed near Sequim. The supplementation program is now in its second year.

“The late run of Dungeness pink salmon limits its use the river to the very lower reaches and is in need of a boost,” said Scott Chitwood, the tribe’s …

The treaty tribes of western Washington look forward to continuing to work with Phil Anderson as director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).

Anderson was named the department’s permanent director Saturday by the nine-member commission Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission. Anderson had been serving as interim director since last December, when Jeff Koenings resigned from the position.

“Phil is a fair and honest …

WDFW released the following press release about the Wiley Slough restoration project, in partnership with the Skagit River System Cooperative, the natural resources management arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes:

OLYMPIA – Beginning July 15, the 175-acre Headquarters Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area will be closed to public access as crews resume work on a major estuary-restoration project at the mouth of the Skagit

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Crews have begun the next phase of construction on the Wiley Slough restoration project, which will return tidal flow to a former estuary in the Skagit River delta.

The Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) — the natural resources arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes — is working on the project with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) along with other partners.

From the …

Cooperative natural resources co-management at its best was displayed during this year’s North of Falcon process for setting Indian and non-Indian salmon fishing seasons in western Washington. The results were protection of weak wild stocks and more fishing opportunity for everyone. We were able to once again fairly share the burden of conserving weak stocks while also sharing harvest opportunity where it exists.

Tribes modified their …

From the Squaxin Island Tribe’s natural resources blog:

This week the Squaxin Island Tribe Natural Resources (SINR) and Washington State Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) started hauling the first batch of juvenile coho to the South Sound Net Pens (SSNP) located in Peale Passage. SSNP is a co-managed facility by the SINR and WDFW that has released an average of 1.5 million coho smolt yearly to

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NEAH BAY — The 18 fishers reintroduced into Olympic National Park (ONP) earlier this year by wildlife biologists were expected to do some roaming. But few expected one of the weasel-like animals to journey nearly 60 miles from its Elwha River watershed release site to the Makah Tribe’s reservation in Neah Bay. Crossing mountains, rivers and busy roads, the fisher reached the Makah Reservation over a …

HOH RIVER — The Hoh Tribe is conducting a study to determine the genetic relationships between today’s Hoh River native steelhead and hatchery steelhead. The genetic study will reveal the extent to which a hatchery run of steelhead that shares the river has affected the genetic structure of the native steelhead

Determining the genetic origin of steelhead that stray into the Hoh from other rivers and …