TCA WFC OP Steelhead ESA Petition Statement

Wild Steelhead, Washington’s State Fish, Collapsing on the Olympic Peninsula Time to Stand Up for Olympic Peninsula Wild Steelhead On August 1, 2022, The Conservation Angler and Wild Fish Conservancy delivered a petition to list Olympic Peninsula Wild Steelhead as a Threatened Species under the federal Endangered Species Act. “Wild steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula are at a crossroads. Our review of the history of poor management within the state of Washington illuminates a long-term failure by fisheries managers to reverse the ebbing tide of decline towards extinction. No matter how you examine this decline, the wild fish are in peril in fabled rivers such as the Sol Duc, Bogachiel, Hoh, Queets, and Quinault Rivers” said Pete Soverel, Board Chair and founder of The Conservation Angler and a long-time Olympic Peninsula angler. “Our goal is to change the management paradigm so these wild fish survive into the future – some of these fish live in a national park - Wild steelhead know what to do and we need to let them get on with it!” added Soverel.

NOAA Fisheries has 90 days to determine if the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.

“An ESA listing won’t solve all the problems, but after decades of missed opportunities by Washington state fishery managers to address proactively and adequately the crisis of this dramatic decline, it’s past time to take accountability and mobilize additional resources for recovery sufficient to reverse this trend. Listing these wild steelhead as threatened or endangered and designating critical habitat will bring in federal oversight and provide a more robust legal framework to ensure actions and decisions are supported by best available science,” said Emma Helverson, Executive Director of Wild Fish Conservancy.

Wild steelhead can’t rely on WDFW to protect and recover them.

“Washington has not demonstrated that it will take the action needed not only to stem the decline but follow a solid path to recovery. It will take all of us working together – including the feds - to make that happen. This is the first step in that new journey” said John McMillan, The Conservation Angler’s Science Director who has fished for and studied OP wild steelhead for 24 years. “The Olympic Peninsula is the wild steelhead’s last stand - if they can’t make it on the OP - with its free-flowing rivers and National Park quality habitat, then there isn’t any place in the lower 48 where the future of steelhead is secure.”

The petitioners look forward to NOAA Fisheries 90-day review on whether the petitioned action may be warranted. # end # Contacts: David Moskowitz, Executive Director, The Conservation Angler (971)235-8953 +david@theconservationangler.org Emma Helverson, Executive Director, Wild Fish Conservancy (484)788-1174 + emma@wildfishconservnacy.org

Questions and Answers What has been done? ➢ On July 1, 2022, the Petitioners sent a notice of intent to submit an ESA petition for Olympic Peninsula wild steelhead to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. ➢ On August 1, 2022, The Conservation Angler and Wild Fish Conservancy delivered a petition to list Olympic Peninsula Wild Steelhead as a Threatened Species under the federal Endangered Species Act and to designate critical habitat to U.S. Secretary of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Why did these organizations take this action? ✓ Wild winter steelhead on the OP are in long-term decline, their run timing has changed, and repeat spawning levels (steelhead often survive after spawning (known as iteroparity)) are lower than ever. ✓ Wild summer steelhead populations are severely depressed and close to extirpation. ✓ Long-term declines in productivity, changes in spatial structure associated with loss of early returning winter steelhead and the critically depleted summer runs pose immediate risk to future survival. ✓ Ongoing habitat degradation outside of the National Park, intensive sport and tribal fishing, hatchery production, and climate change impacts all intensify downward pressures on declining wild steelhead. ✓ The State’s capacity to stem the decline has proven to be inadequate, and the longer we wait the harder recovery will be.

What happens next? o NOAA Fisheries will determine if the TCA-WFC petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action (listing OP wild steelhead as a Threatened Species and Designating Critical Habitat under the Federal ESA) may be warranted. o NOAA must make that determination within 90 days of receiving it.

How did we get here? ❖ Wild winter steelhead runs are in long-term decline, their run timing has changed, and repeat spawning levels are lower than they have ever been during the period of record.

❖ Wild summer steelhead are close to extirpation and are worthy of their own listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) – but their dire status contributes to overall risk to steelhead.

❖ Significant risk factors threatening the persistence of wild steelhead also include: o Long-term declines in productivity, o changes in spatial structure associated with loss of early returning winter steelhead, o critically depleted summer runs also add significant risk to future survival. o Temperature and flow impacts from climate change o Increasing fishing pressure as other Washington steelhead populations decline. ❖ Additionally, the extensive habitat degradation outside of Olympic National Park, and many other demographic risks and limiting factors place wild steelhead at significant risk of becoming an endangered species within the foreseeable future. ❖ Wild Steelhead were harvested in sport fisheries until 2014 and continue to be harvested in tribal fisheries which can negatively affect fish size, stock structure and age class distribution. Catch and release fisheries can have negative lethal and sub-lethal effects on fecundity and spawning success. ❖ Hatchery programs increase fishing pressure on wild fish and impart many well-known impacts to wild salmon and steelhead productivity, diversity, and abundance.