TCA Track Record

Historical Summary of The Conservation Angler’s Accomplishments 2003 to 2016 Pete Soverel, TCA Founder and President The Conservation Angler was originally formed to preserve the Kamchatka Steelhead Project (founded in 1994) when the Wild Salmon Center dropped its foundational program in 2002.

Kamchatka: Since re-establishment in 2003 under TCA’s guidance, wild steelhead abundance and life history diversity under KSP protections have soared, and consequently, so sponsorship participation has revived. Presently, TCA is expanding KSP to two new rivers (four camps total) 2022-2023. TCA has signed long-term MOUs with WDFW, NOAA and Elwha tribe providing for annual participation in the KSP by individual scientists jointly selected by signatories and TCA - exposing these agency biologist to robust, wild steelhead populations and is meant to inspire the export of management strategies to the Pacific Northwest. TCA sponsors their participation (an $75K annual grant). By all measures, the KSP remains our flagship conservation program. KSP’s key partners also remain tried and true – our relationships with Moscow State University and The Fly Shop in Redding, CA are stronger than ever.

After the KSP re-established itself, TCA began working on northwest initiatives.

Elwha River: co-plaintiff in steelhead recovery lawsuit resulted in the elimination of Chambers Creek brood stock program, a limited winter run hatchery supplementation based upon wild brood stock and fostered summer run steelhead, sea run cutthroat, bull trout in a natural recovery. Results: wild winter run – no evidence of wild recovery, lack of colonization of river upstream of removed dam structures; wild summer run – yet a dramatic explosion of natural origin run (+/- 2,000 fish, natural production-driven largest wild summer-run population in western Washington); along with sea run cutthroat/bull trout strong recovery of wild populations.

White Salmon River: dam removal/natural recovery: TCA was one of several groups coordinating with WDFW, NOAA, and tribes to predicate natural recovery following Condit dam removal (2011).

Quillayute River: Elimination of wild steelhead brood stock program: after first eliminating this program on Sol Duc River and successfully working with WDFW to establish Sol Duc as wild steelhead management zone, WDFW, over our objections, attempted to replicate the program on Bogachiel. This program has now been permanently eliminated.

Wild Steelhead Release: After years of effort, secured WDFW adoption of wild steelhead release regulations on OP rivers. Regrettably, even with adoption of these regulations, wild OP steelhead populations have continued to decline and summer runs have been locally extirpated while winter-run populations fail to meet court mandated escapement levels. TCA is preparing an ESA listing petition to list these stocks as threatened under ESA. TCA expects to submit this proposal to NOAA within the next month (close hold on this item please).

Puget Sound hatchery lawsuit and resulting designation of Skagit as a wild steelhead gene bank and the elimination of hatchery plants for ten years and a consultation process prior to re-initiation of any steelhead hatchery programs.

Salmon Farming: Co-plaintiffs in federal lawsuit to eliminate open water net pens – sadly, this legal action has not completely successful though WA has banned Atlantic Salmon farms from Puget Sound waters.

Osprey: TCA coordinated and assumed leadership for Osprey partnership from FFI. Partners: Wild Steelhead Coalition, FFI, Conservation Angler, Trout Unlimited, Steelhead Society of BC; Skeena Wild. TCA chairs the editorial and management committee which oversees Osprey operations, publication, and fund-raising.

Since 2016: TCA contracted with David Moskowitz in early 2016 and he has led wild fish conservation efforts on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, in the Willamette and Umpqua watersheds in Oregon. Our current staff expansion is building exponentially upon TCA’s work and we have added expertise in science and law to our already strong team that includes scientific advisors Jack Stanford, Jim Lichatowich, Rick Williams, Bill McMillan, and Bill Bakke.

Thank you for your generous pledge of support,

Contact: David Moskowitz, Executive Director P.O. Box 13121 Portland, OR 97213 971-235-8953 (direct)

david@theconservationangler.org www.theconservationangler.org

December 2016

North Umpqua River by David Moskowitz

The Conservation Angler 16430 72nd Ave West Edmonds, WA 98026

From the Desk of Pete Soverel: Dear Friends of Wild Steelhead and Salmon, I am writing to: • Bring you up to speed on The Conservation Angler Accomplishments in 2016.

• Outline our plans for 2017 setting a course to expand our conservation mission and activities throughout the range of anadromous salmonids.

• Provide you a draft budget/operating expense break down.

I outline below our 2017 budget and fund-raising needs which total $134,800.00. TCA will devote $50,000 from the Kamchatka Steelhead Project program in 2017 to support our other initiatives and programs herein described. We ask that you consider a significant gift towards that $34,000+ balance to support our ambitious and effective programs.

I am very pleased to inform you that The Conservation Angler has two new hires: •

•

Dave Moskowitz is on board as Executive Director. Dave has a long and effective history as an advocate and foot soldier for wild salmon and steelhead conservation. Attached is his impressive resume. He will operate out of an office in Portland.

Bill McMillan, archivist. Bill will serve as both a scientific advisor and archivist. In this latter capacity, he will provide periodic essays, in-depth reports and historical perspectives to salmon and steelhead abundance over time from pre-European contact to the present.

Attached is his VC. He will operate out of Concrete, Washington.

BUDGET OVERVIEW (see attached spreadsheet for details) Program 2016 Kamchatka Steelhead Project (self-funding): $300,000.00 Other programs & expenses $ 50,000.00 TOTAL $350,000.00 Fund raising goal N/A

2017 $420,000.00 $184,800.00 $604,800.00 $134,800.00

CURRENT PROGRAMS/PROJECTS Kamchatka Steelhead Project The Kamchatka Steelhead Project is the longest running cooperative wild steelhead science and conservation projects in the world. We co-direct this program with Moscow State University. Our partners include the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Ministry of Environment, University of Montana, and Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. KSP It is a specifically listed and approved program under Area V of the USRussia agreement on the Environment. The KSP is our flagship program. It is self-funding -- a unique condition in the not-for-profit world.

In 2016, we resumed operations on the Utkholok River sending two groups of four sponsors each there in addition to the sixteen sponsors who participated out of Kvachina camp. Both rivers were full of steelhead: top day -- two rods; twenty steelhead hooked, ten landed in five hours of fishing.

The very robust wild steelhead populations in the three rivers we protect are a dramatic testament to our effectiveness in keeping poachers at bay and the species’ ability to rapidly recover naturally.

Regrettably, two extended periods of heavy rain made for extremely difficult angling conditions for extended periods. None-the-less, we were able to add to our large collection of biological samples dating back to 1994 -- see the attached interim science report from our partner Kirill Kuzishchin, Moscow State University.

I am pleased to inform you that TCA and the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife haves signed a long-term memorandum of understanding which provides for annual participation by a WDFW steelhead biologist annually. TCA subsidizes WDFW participation for the entire field season (+/- $25,000.00). In a critical new development, TCA is developing an in-depth wild steelhead genetic analysis based upon our extensive collection of biological samples with partners WDFW, Wild Salmon Center, Alaska Department of Fish & Wildlife, and the University of California (Davis).

I am also very pleased to inform you that as part of the Russian national campaign for protected areas (2017), the entire Kvachina, Snotalvayam and Utkholok watersheds are slated to be included and designated steelhead protection zones -- an outcome we have sought and dreamed of for over two decades. THIS IS HUGE!!!!

In 2017, we will operate two camps again from mid-September -- mid-October for four groups (Kvachina -- 8; Utkholok -- 4) for eight days each. We have been able to reduce the cost of individual sponsorship to $9,995.00. I hope you will consider sponsoring this in 2017. This is the BEST steelhead fishing left on earth (see attached video for flavor!! -https://stories.yeti.com/story/kamchatka). Give me a ring and I will fill you in on the details and availability. Do not wait too long. There are a limited number of slots still open.

Lamzov Scholarships and Prizes TCA annually awards a four-year scholarship and four academic prizes for Kamchatkan students in memory of Russian Fish Inspector/Enforcement officer, Sergey Lamzov who was killed in the line of duty on an anti-poaching patrol. Officer Lamzov participated in KSP field activities for many years as the on-scene representative of the Russian fisheries service.

Hoh River Wild Steelhead Project As I have previously reported, at our initiative, WDFW has established a long-term study program to monitor Hoh River wild steelhead, modeled, in part, on our KSP program. Current partners are WDFW and Trout Unlimited. In 2016, the program: • Acquired a specialized sonar to count adult steelhead • Conducted site surveys to determine the best location for the sonar and a smolt trap • Conducted collection of biological samples from adult steelhead using volunteers (guides) to evaluate feasibility of the biological data collection model.

2017 work will expand upon this. We are very excited about the public-private program integrating WDFW personnel, volunteers and state and private financing. Future work will include adult and juvenile sampling to help detail the life history and genetic profiles for Hoh River steelhead.

Elwha River Recovery Project TCA has partnered with other conservation organizations to mount legal challenges to the hatchery - based Elwha fisheries recovery plan which purports to provide the foundation for recovery of wild Chinook and steelhead populations after recent successful dam removal. While TCA and our coalition has prevailed on legal grounds at the district court level, no changes have been ordered on current hatchery practices or releases. TCA has joined the appealed to the US Ninth Court of Appeals which has not yet set the docket for hearing this appeal.

North Coast Wild Steelhead Recovery TCA is a member of the advisory group advising the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife on programs to protect and expand wild steelhead populations on the Washington coast -including the Quinault, Queets, Hoh, and Quillayute Rivers. We played a central role in terminating the wild brood stock program on Solduc River and its subsequent designation of as a wild steelhead gene bank, as well as securing wild steelhead release year- round on these systems.

The advisory group is considering a range of regulatory regimes to reduce angling related mortality and manage/regulate guide activity.

Puget Sound Wild Winter Steelhead Recovery Project Puget Sound wild steelhead populations are currently about 2% of historic abundance and are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act. TCA, in collaboration with several other organizations, including Wild Fish Conservancy and Wild Steelhead Coalition have been engaged in a broad range of activities to promote recovery of wild Puget Sound Steelhead: • Dramatically reduced hatchery steelhead releases, including a 12-year moratorium prohibiting releases of Chambers Creek hatchery fish into the Skagit River.

• Promoting designation of representative wild steelhead gene banks in each of the major Puget Sound populations groups. So far, WDFW has delayed designation of the Skagit, despite that the Skagit wild steelhead population has rebounded strongly from reduced/eliminated hatchery plants, with wild steelhead escapement expanding from a low of 2,200+ spawners eight years ago to current returns approaching 10,000 adult wild steelhead. The Skagit most closely meets the criteria established by the WDFW Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission for designation as a wild steelhead gene bank. These criteria include --abundance, special and temporal diversity, likelihood of persistence, and life history diversity. Every steelhead conservation group has supported its’ designation. We anticipate that this will devolve into a major battle, perhaps including administrative and legal challenges.

Puget Sound Wild Steelhead Recovery This Project entails multiple interlocking initiatives, with several objectives that include forcing the adoption of conservation management regimes; curbing poor hatchery practices; decreasing the impact of liberal angling regulations; establishing the preeminence of wild fish in multiple watersheds, and where necessary resort to legal challenges to NOAA and WDFW. Steelhead/Cutthroat Policy Advisory Group WDFW established a special advisory group to provide advice and counsel to the director on steelhead and cutthroat conservation and management. This group meets at least four times a year.

TCA actively participates on is represented on this group which has laid to groundwork for

increasingly conservative management regimes. There is a sub-group to the SCPAG, the North Coast Steelhead Management Advisory Group, and TCA also participates to help develops angling regulations and management options for conservation of wild coastal winter steelhead populations.

Columbia Initiative A number of factors have come together to increase the likelihood of securing major changes affecting fishery management, hydro system operations and ultimately recovery of wild steelhead and salmon populations: • BIOP ruling. The federal court has again rejected the federal BIOP (analysis of management actions which must show that these actions promote the recovery of list Columbia/Snake wild stocks) as failing the test of the law. The court has directed federal authorities to conduct a full environmental impact analysis of recovery options to include specifically removal of one or more of lower Snake River dams. TCA is engaged in this process which we hope will finally result in a recovery plan that will promote recovery.

• Based upon dramatic recovery of wild, naturally spawning Osoyoos River sockeye, there is increasing evidence that wild based recovery strategies promise a more effective pathway towards re-establishing healthy, sustainable wild salmon and steelhead stocks.

Regrettably, federal and state authorities continue to resist such strategies. Last year, over 500,000 wild sockeye died before spawning due to lethally high river temperatures from the Columbia estuary to its anadromous head waters. TCA is exploring its legal options under the Clean Water Act, dam permit violations and potential legal challenges which can include very large damage awards -- this will be a major fight demanding considerable resources.

• There are substantial discrepancies between dam counts, reported sports/commercial landings and tribal fish tickets. These may be the result of large-scale under-reporting of landing/sales and a failure on the part of federal, tribal, and state enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with approved fish plans. Additionally, TCA participates in Columbia River Compact hearings and determinations setting fishing seasons, establishing conservation closures, and monitoring harvest rates.

The Osprey TCA is partnering with the FFF to build a new future for the influential The Osprey: Journal of International Steelhead and Salmon Conservation. The Osprey has been published three times a year for 28 years. It is THE definitive publication on wild steelhead and salmon conservation and management. It has a long record of substantial achievement and influence. The partnership has developed a model to engage other conservation organizations in a three-year program to expand the contact, circulation, and influence of The Osprey. We are confident that we will be successful in this effort with commitments in principle (including financial) from IFFF, TCA, Wild Salmon Center, Wild Fish Conservancy, and Wild Steelhead Coalition. Several other organizations are considering joining. Jack Stanford, Jim Lichatowich and Bill McMillan have already agreed to serve as scientific advisors to help the new Osprey select areas for examination and identify authors. We hope would like to be able to implement this vision in by late 2017.

Iconic Rivers Program Work with other organizations to secure special designation with accompanying policies, management regimes and regulations to conserve the West’s most iconic wild salmon and steelhead rivers in each bioregion. Criteria for selection: most historically or currently productive

and storied rivers with rich angling heritage and accompanying literary history: river such as the Klamath, Trinity, Eel, Deschutes, John Day, Clearwater, Salmon, Wind, Skagit, Hoh/Quillayute, Thompson, Dean, Skeena, Kenai, Situk, Karluk. Each Iconic River Campaign will be focused on key limiting factors within our wheelhouse. TCA will not accept the loss of iconic wild fish and fisheries in our own backyards.

Communications Out-Reach To help make each of the foregoing programs and initiatives, including fund-raising, more effective by more fully engaging the public in our work, we are revamping our website to make it much more interactive and timelier. This sounds simple, but it is labor intensive requiring substantial staff resources.

In Conclusion The foregoing is an extremely ambitious program for a small organization such as ours. We are fully cognizant of the challenge. However, because we are nimble, persistent, and focused, and based upon our record of successes in the past, we are confident that with your help and support, we can make meaningful progress conserving salmon and steelhead and preserving the accompanying angling tradition.

We appreciate sincerely your support in the past. Please consider a year-end, tax deductible donation to The Conservation Angler. It is a sound investment.

Warmest personal regards,

Peter W. Soverel President

Contacts: Email: soverel@msn.com Phone: 425-742-4651 Cell: 425-501-9852 Web: theconservationangler.org

The Conservation Angler 2017 in Review, and What's on the Horizon

Our Mission: The Conservation Angler advocates for wild fish and fisheries. We work to protect, conserve and restore wild steelhead, salmon, trout and char throughout their Pacific range using all legal, administrative and political means to prevent their extirpation and to foster a long-term recovery of wild stocks to fishable and harvestable abundance.

Learn more about our efforts at www.theconservationangler.org

TCA

The Conservation Angler: Year In Review A review of the status of wild salmon and steelhead underscores the fact that past and current management practices are failing. Over vast stretches of their native ranges (Alaska and Russian Far East exempted) wild salmon and steelhead have already been extirpated or are on the verge of nearterm extinction. Consider the current status of wild steelhead in several representative, iconic steelhead rivers:

River Historic Columbia/Snake 32,000,000+ Stillaguamish 100,000 Puget Sound 600,000 Hoh 50,000 Queets 60,000 San Juaquin 1,000,000 Eel 150,000 Thompson 50,000 Dean River 30,000 Kvachina (1994/Present) 2,000 Snotalvayam 1,500 Utkholok 2,500

Present 35,000 (800 B-run) 900 15,000 3,500 4,500 -01,000 133 4,000 10,500 7,500 25,000

Decline - 98% -99.1% -97.5% -93% -93% -100% -99.3% -99.7% -86.7% +525% +500% +1,000%

By any objective analysis, it is plain that if current practices are continued, most US Lower 48 and southern BC wild populations of steelhead will be extinct in the near future. Radical changes to the prevailing management paradigm must be adopted quickly. We are a highly strategic and experienced organization dedicated to that proposition.

The Conservation Angler has demonstrated a different management paradigm in Kamchatka with our Russian partners (Moscow State University, Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Ministry of Environment). On the three demonstration rivers under our direction, wild steelhead populations have increased 500% to over 1000% in twenty years. We have the experience and proven management/ recovery strategies, and are working strategically to protect these fisheries for the future. TCA is committed to changing the paradigms through engagement across a broad spectrum of efforts to: -Devise effective management regimes verified by previous field experience (KSP/Hoh) -Actively engage in public forums and activities that establish management policies and set fishing seasons through state rulemaking, the Columbia River Compact and Federal ESA regulations.

-Ensure agencies follow the law and administrative rules (with improved transparency and compliance).

-Initiate legal action where necessary to hold management agencies accountable.

-Increase public outreach and awareness through traditional media sources like The Osprey, groundbreaking TCA staff articles and reports in respected publications, and sharing of timely news and compelling calls-toaction to our supporters and the community-at-large through various online venues.

2017 Report

Our Team One of TCA's greatest assets is its staff and advisors, who collectively provide significant salmon and steelhead conservation and NGO experience to drive our efforts.

Peter W. Soverel, Founder and President Pete has spent the past four decades focused on creative science and conservation efforts. He founded both TCA and the Wild Salmon Center, and is a board member emeritus at WSC. Pete helps oversee and guide TCA's conservation efforts.

Dave Moskowitz, Executive Director Dave is a conservationist, environmental lawyer, lobbyist and educator who has spent decades working on conservation issues. Prior to his role at TCA, Dave was co-founder and executive director at the Deschutes River Alliance.

Bill Bakke, Director of Science and Conservation Bill Bakke has spent his life advocating for wild fish. Bill has worked for the Columbia River Fisheries Council and Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and founded Oregon Trout, the FishCons Coalition and the Native Fish Society. Bill has written over 100 articles on fish conservation and has been featured in numerous books.

Bill McMillan, Archivist Writer, Conservationist, Citizen scientist. Bill helped found the Native Fish Society and served as board chair for ten years. Bill has explored rivers throughout Washington and Oregon, pioneering snorkeling investigations, his exhaustive findings supporting his extensive historical research efforts. He has authored two books on angling and fly tying.

Alex Lovett-Woodsum, Development and Communications Alex has been an avid angler all her life, and has dedicated much of her career to giving back to the fisheries she loves. After several years working for Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Alex started a consultancy focused on conservation and fly fishing. Alex is also working with Now or Neverglades, Tail Fly Fishing, and Fay Ranches, among others.

TCA

Programs and Initiatives The Conservation Angler advocates for the protection, scientific study, and conservation of iconic wild anadromous fish populations and the rivers in which they thrive. Our numerous initiatives and projects seek to change disastrous current management paradigms and help vulnerable fish populations recover. The following pages detail our efforts – our goals, accomplishments to date, current challenges faced in different areas, and our plans for the future.

We still have much to do, and as you will see from these reports, there are many ongoing threats to these fish and rivers. We have the knowledge and tools to impact change and help preserve these fisheries for the future, and in some cases, bring them back from the brink of extinction. To stay up to date, visit our website news section or Facebook page, subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter, and tell your friends about our efforts and topical issues. Together we can save these fisheries, but we have to act now.

Hoh River Wild Steelhead Project TCA is extremely concerned about the rapidly declining wild steelhead populations on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula Coast, particularly the Hoh and Queets, where tribal harvests have driven populations spiraling downward. These wild populations are clearly trending towards extirpation.

In spite of these population trends, earlier this year, Seafood Watch (considered an authority on seafood sustainability) recommended tribally-caught steelhead as a “good alternative” (i.e. sustainable) seafood choice. TCA helped coordinate a national call-to-action to this listing, causing Seafood Watch to move Hoh River steelhead to the “avoid” category and securing a commitment from wholesalers to not purchase these fish – a small win but one which underscores TCA’s agility and ability to secure favorable conservation outcomes.

Our initiative caused WDFW to establish a long-term study program to monitor Hoh River wild steelhead, modeled, in part, on our KSP program. Current partners are WDFW and Trout Unlimited.

In 2016-2017, the program: -Acquired a specialized sonar to count adult steelhead.

-Conducted site surveys to determine the best location for the sonar and a smolt trap.

-Collected biological samples from adult steelhead using volunteers (guides) to test feasibility of the biological data collection model. See full report from our WDFW partner, Mara Zimmerman on the next page.

The 2017-2018 program will expand upon this work. We are very excited about the public-private program integrating WDFW personnel, volunteers and state and private financing. Future work will include adult and juvenile sampling to help detail the life history and genetic profiles for Hoh River steelhead populations.

2017 Report

TCA IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE ON THE HOH RIVER TCA provided financial support for the WDFW Hoh Project - specifically to include analysis of sonar data collected over the course of the winter season.

This data is still in the analytical phase and is being used to plan for the 2017-2018 field season. The new data will be posted on our website shortly. We are particularly concerned about Hoh River wild winter steelhead. The population is in serious trouble and in long-term decline. For decades, the population has been consistently over-harvested by tribal fishers. The Hoh River summer run population is on the verge of extirpation. TCA is considering a number of initiatives, including legal actions, to prevent extinction of Hoh River wild steelhead. Below is the 2016 annual report for the Hoh River that came out in March 2017 (click below link to view).

https:// theconservationangler.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/ hoh-river-steelhead-project-2016-annual-report/

TCA

Columbia Basin Initiative 2017 wild steelhead returns to the Columbia/Snake are the lowest since 1997, and among the lowest in history for wild B-run steelhead, with only 800 adults returning to Bonneville Dam. These numbers are far below the levels when wild Columbia/Snake steelhead were listed as threatened under the ESA in 1997. The 2018 outlook is equally grim, with poor ocean conditions persisting. State and Federal fisheries managers, aware of the grim forecast, only implemented moderate conservation measures on commercial and sport fisheries, establishing few closures while allowing chinook and coho angling in thermal sanctuaries. TCA participated actively in the process that establishes and authorizes fisheries via the Columbia River Compact (CRC). This joint agency management process lacks transparency and is often indifferent to public input. Agency staff, familiar with the models used to forecast returns or analyze the impacts of harvest, did not once clearly describe the scientific basis, set of assumptions nor critical uncertainties of the models used during regular and frequent in-season adjustments. As a matter of practice, memoranda supporting the agency action arrived after the meeting convened.

If the current management practices continue, TCA believes this process will result in the complete loss of wild B-run Snake River steelhead life history within the next three years. TCA is evaluating its administrative and legal options to prevent this result and to ensure the survival and recovery of wild Columbia/Snake salmon and steelhead.

TCA was the only conservation organization fully engaged in this process during 2017, attending 41 out 43 scheduled CRC hearings and teleconferences since August 2016. TCA committed to participate in this process in order to speak on behalf of the wild steelhead and salmon and for our supporters who refuse to allow Columbia and Snake River wild steelhead to go the way of the Passenger Pigeon and other wild steelhead that have been allowed to slip away, almost unnoticed.

A number of issues have arisen together to increase the opportunity to secure major changes affecting fishery management, hydro system operations and ultimately recovery of wild steelhead and salmon populations: Columbia Basin Hydrosystem biological opinion (BiOp) ruling: The federal court again rejected the federal BiOp (analysis of management actions which must show that these actions promote the recovery of list Columbia/Snake wild stocks) as failing the test of the law. The court has directed federal authorities to conduct a full environmental impact analysis of recovery options to include removal of one or more of the Lower Snake River dams. TCA is actively engaged in this process, which we hope will finally result in a series of substantial actions that will actually promote recovery based on what wild fish need to successfully migrate and spawn.

US v. Oregon Harvest Management Agreement Renegotiation: NOAA Fisheries has just completed an analysis of its role in the key harvest management policy framework that governs harvest between the states and the Columbia and Snake River Treaty Tribes. TCA provided extensive comments throughout the process, and if, after review of the final environmental analysis, we find it inadequate, we will initiate legal challenges in order to gain “a seat at the table” in what are essentially private negotiations between the federal, tribal and state managers.

Inter-dam Fish Losses: TCA has been working to uncover the basis for what appear to be substantial losses of migrating steelhead and salmon between each mainstem dam. Known as “conversion” or “inter-dam loss,” federal fish managers have collected and analyzed extensive and complex data regarding these alarming passage losses, but have yet to implement any initial measures aimed at the likely causes of these losses, nor measures to account for these lost salmon and steelhead as they manage harvest, fish passage or recovery measures. TCA submitted a Freedom of Information Act request in late May that still has yet to be fully met. We expect to finish our analysis of the documents this fall and winter.

2017 Report Accountability for Fish Kills: Based upon dramatic recovery of wild, naturally spawning Osoyoos River sockeye, there is increasing evidence that wild-based recovery strategies promise a more effective pathway towards re-establishing healthy, sustainable wild salmon and steelhead stocks. Regrettably, federal and state authorities continue to resist such strategies. In 2015, over 400,000 wild sockeye and spring-summer chinook died before spawning due to lethally high river temperatures in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. These fish were lost because hydrosystem and fishery managers did not take decisive action in ordering releases of life-saving colder waters to replenish drawn-down rivers and mainstem reservoirs. TCA is exploring legal options under the Clean Water Act and certain state remedies that permit natural resource damage claims for losses of wild fish due to pollution or neglect.

Illegal and Unaccounted for Harvest: TCA is also aware of extensive discrepancies in the reported commercial landings of salmon and steelhead which may be the result of large scale under-reporting of landing/sales and a failure on the part of federal, tribal and state enforcement agencies to ensure that sale of fish harvested in “compliance” with approved fish plans is carefully monitored. Given the scarcity of some wild steelhead and salmon populations, monitoring and enforcement is more important than ever.

Puget Sound Wild Winter Steelhead Recovery Puget Sound wild steelhead populations are currently in decline, hovering at about 2-3% of historic abundance, and are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). TCA, in collaboration with other organizations including Wild Fish Conservancy and Wild Steelhead Coalition, has been engaged in a broad range of activities to promote recovery of wild Puget Sound steelhead.

This project consists of interlocking initiatives that include forcing the adoption of conservation management regimes; curbing poor hatchery practices; decreasing the impact of liberal angling regulations; establishing the preeminence of wild fish in multiple watersheds, and where necessary, we will resort to administrative and legal challenges to NOAA and WDFW. 2017 Updates: We have dramatically reduced hatchery steelhead releases, including a 12-year moratorium prohibiting releases of Chambers Creek hatchery fish into the Skagit River.

We are actively promoting designation of representative wild steelhead gene banks (WSGB) in each of the major Puget Sound populations groups. So far, WDFW designated the Nisqually and Elwha rivers as wild steelhead gene banks. In the absence of hatchery plants, wild Nisqually steelhead have increased from a low of 100-200 fish twenty years ago to 3,000+ currently. Quite incredibly, both of these rivers remain closed to even catch and release recreational angling while still staying open to tribal fishing.

Meanwhile, WDFW has refused to designate the Skagit as a wild steelhead gene bank notwithstanding that it is currently free of hatchery fish with a rapidly expanding wild steelhead population. As with the Nisqually, the Skagit remains closed to recreational steelhead angling. Securing WSGB designation is a key TCA objective for 2017/2018. We anticipate that this will devolve into a major battle, perhaps including administrative and legal challenges.

TCA

Kamchatka Steelhead Project (KSP) History and Program Information The self-funding Kamchatka Steelhead Project is our flagship program and is the longest running cooperative wild steelhead science and conservation project in the world. The knowledge gained each year from this groundbreaking research project is critical to our scientific understanding of wild steelhead.

The program is straightforward: through catch and release fly fishing, angler-sponsors collect biological samples to support the project. Anglers and guides measure length/girth and determine the sex of the fish. Through statistical methodology, we are able to estimate total abundance and mortality. Since sponsors are the only anglers along 100 miles of nearly pristine wild rivers, our Kamchatka program ins the best, and perhaps last, chance to full understand the population structure, life-history strategies, and migration patterns of wild rainbow trout and steelhead, as well as the impact of angling on those fish. This knowledge will be essential to recovery efforts around the world where these wild fish have been compromised by hatcheries, habitat degradation and angling over-exploitation. Perhaps we will even solve the mystery of why some rainbow trout turn into steelhead and some do not.

Partners We co-direct this program with Moscow State University and our partners include the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences; Russian Ministry of Environment; University of Montana; University of California, Davis; Wild Salmon Center; and Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. The KSP is a specifically listed and approved program under Area V of the US-Russia agreement on the Environment. It is self-funding—a unique condition in the not-forprofit world. TCA and the Wild Salmon Center (WSC) have signed a long-term MOU, which provides for annual participation by a WWS steelhead biologist.

TCA subsidizes WSC participation (+/- $14,000.00). TCA is also developing an in-depth wild steelhead genetic analysis based upon our extensive collection of biological samples with partners WDFW, WSC, Alaska Department of Fish & Wildlife and the University of California (Davis).

Lamzov Scholarship and Prizes TCA annually awards a four-year scholarship and four academic prizes for Kamchatkan students in memory of Russian Fish Inspector/Enforcement officer, Sergey Lamzov, who was killed in the line of duty on an anti-poaching patrol. Officer Lamzov participated in KSP field activities for many years as the on-site representative of the Russian fisheries service.

Anadromous vs. Resident Fish in Kamchatka

2017 Report The Research During the 2017 season, we collected samples from 429 landed steelhead on the three rivers we manage.

Based upon mark tag recapture rates, we estimate the total steelhead populations for these rivers to be the following: Snotalvyam: 7500-10,000

Kvachina: 8,000-12,000

Utkholok: 18,000-25,000

Note that these are intimate rivers flowing from modest watersheds at the very outer limit of the species' range, exposed to an incredibly hostile environment – short growing season, brutally cold winters, and very cold sea temperatures. These populations have expanded rapidly once they were provided the protection from poaching that was established by our program, demonstrating the remarkable productivity of wild stocks and the inherent ability of steelhead to rapidly recover abundance and life history diversity if free from hatchery interactions and protected from harvest.

This past field season was, as noted above, exceptionally productive. Our scientific partners have provided a preliminary report which you can access here: https://theconservationangler.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/kamchatka-steelheadproject-2017-science-report/ More detailed reports will be forthcoming in early 2018, and will also be posted to our website. TCA is also exploring several innovative, groundbreaking studies based upon Kamchatka steelhead DNA analysis which we will also report on in greater depth in the coming months.

Photos by Steve Pettit

TCA

2017: An Outstanding Year in Kamchatka This year, we conducted field operations from September 23-October 11, fully supported by 24 sponsors and staffed with four dedicated scientists. 2017 marked an exceptionally successful program. Weather and river conditions were extremely favorable, which contributed to very high success rates. Steelhead abundance in the rivers under our management have to be experienced to be believed. On several days, individual sponsors hooked more than ten fish each day! There were literally steelhead behind every rock.

Over 166 angler days, we collected samples (landed) from 429 fresh from the sea, wild steelhead, while hooking a total of 734. Over the course of the season, sponsor encounter rates in the three rivers were: Snotalvayam: 2.8 steelhead/sponsor/day; average size – 13.4 lbs; largest – 20 lbs Kvachina: 3.1 steelhead/sponsor/day; average size – 11.2 lbs; largest – 19 lbs Utkholok: 6.7 steelhead/sponsor/day; average size – 12.1 lbs; largest – 22.3 lbs The outfitter made dramatic improvements to infrastructure leading up to this season—five new jetboats, cabins, upgraded tents—to complement experienced and capable staff, guides and cooks. TCA purchased a new jetboat for dedicated use by the scientific participants, and shipping containers were converted into warm, insulated, comfortable cabins for sponsors.

STEVE PETTIT, Angler/Sponsor in 2017 What a trip! It couldn’t have gone any better. The experience at Utkholok camp was epic. Best way to describe the adventure: jump into a time machine and go back 250+ years (before white man had arrived on the Northern Pacific Rim and started destroying all the natural resources). Our little fishing camp was a thing of beauty. Looked like it came out of the stone-age but had its modern-day amenities (like Wi-Fi). The fishing was basically straightforward—if you had any knowledge of where steelhead lie and how to present a fly you were rewarded with a grab. What wasn’t straightforward was the size and fight of the steelhead! The four of us in camp landed 220 steelhead in our seven days of fishing. Epic experience, in a land that time has forgotten. I am lucky, beyond belief, to have been fortunate enough to have been allowed to experience the Kamchatkan steelhead adventure. It will be a long time for me to come to terms with just how special it was!

all photos by Steve Pettit

2017 Report JUSTIN MILLER, TCA Program Director, Utkholok River This was the best season I have been a part of in my years of involvement with the Kamchatka Steelhead Project. Everything went smoothly from beginning to end, and conditions and fishing provided steelhead angling that is unmatched anywhere else on earth. The camps were top-notch, providing warm lodging, hot showers, good food, and fantastic staff! The guides are experienced and the new boats and engines provide for a smooth fishing experience. The scientific staff was helpful and informative, and the anglers enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the research.

In 2018, two camps will operate from mid-September to mid-October for three groups (Kvachina—8 anglers; Utkholok—4 anglers) while holding the costs of fully tax-deductible sponsorship to $9,995.00.

As of the writing of this report, only two sponsorships are available for 2018. More information on the trip can be found on our website under the Conservation section.

Contact Pete Soverel soverel@wildsalmonrivers.org // (425) 501-9851 (cell) right away to reserve your spot.

TCA

Public Education and Outreach Public education, outreach and awareness are a focus for TCA, and those efforts grew substantially in 2017. Notable is our new website, www.theconservationangler.org and the ongoing publication of The Osprey: Journal of International Steelhead and Salmon Conservation. The Osprey remains a groundbreaking and vital source of scientific and policy analysis on the conservation of wild steelhead and salmon in the Pacific Northwest. TCA has commissioned numerous articles and reports written this year by our accomplished staff, and published timely news and calls-to-action on our new website. Read on for more detail.

THE OSPREY

COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH To help make all of our programs and initiatives more effective and more compelling to an engaged angling public, TCA revamped our website and blog to make it much more interactive and timely.

We now have a website that provides news, calls-to-action, research reports and information and much more. In conjunction with this, we are focusing more efforts on our social media and online presence to keep TCA at the forefront of efforts that require public involvement and action.

TCA is leading an effort to build a new future for the influential The Osprey: Journal of International Steelhead and Salmon Conservation. The Osprey has been published three times a year for the past 28 years. It is arguably the definitive publication on wild steelhead and salmon conservation and management and has a long record of substantial achievement and influence. The emerging partnership has developed a model to engage other conservation organizations in a three-year program to expand the content, circulation and influence of The Osprey. We have secured commitments from a range of like-minded conservation organizations. Our kickoff meeting takes place in December 2017, and we plan to publish the first expanded issue by mid-2018. Visit our website to access the latest issues.

2017 Report

Essays by Bill McMillan TCA Archivist Bill McMillan is a groundbreaking angler, writer, conservationist and citizen-scientist who helped found the Wild Fish Conservancy. He has compiled extensive observations and exhaustive historical research into a number of interesting and information books and reports. This year, he notably produced an exhaustive and fascinating six-part research report titled Lewis and Clark's White Salmon Trout: Coho Salmon or Steelhead? You can find the link for all six parts here: https://theconservationangler.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/lewis-and-clarkswhite-salmon-trout-coho-salmon-or-steelhead-part-one/

Conservation Reports by Bill Bakke These significant conservation reports are written and compiled by Bill Bakke, Director of Science and Conservation, who has been tracking, reading, synthesizing and reporting on emerging scientific research on anadromous fish for forty years. Through his abstracts and observations, he has applied real-world context to scientific findings and principles for fish managers and advocates alike. TCA will post a complete archive of his reports in 2018. The following is a selection of his contributions from 2017: Conservation and Science Reports https://theconservationangler.wordpress.com/2017/11/15/bill-bakke-2017conservation-and-science-reports/ Wild Pacific Salmon: A Threatened Legacy (by Jim Lichatowich, Rick Williams, Bill Bakke, Jim Myron, David Bella, Bill McMillan, Jack Stanford and David Montgomery) https://theconservationangler.wordpress.com/2017/08/04/wild-pacific-salmona-threatened-legacy/ Upper Willamette Wild Winter Steelhead Recovery Issues https://theconservationangler.wordpress.com/2017/07/26/upper-willamettewild-winter-steelhead-recovery-issues/

TCA

TCA in the News TCA prides itself on having staff and advisors that are go-to sources of knowledge when it comes to steelhead and salmon recovery information and efforts. They have a wealth of information and experience, and are often tapped to write and contribute to articles and reports that importantly help raise public awareness of these issues. Below is a selection of some notable media contributions from the TCA team in 2017:

North 40 Magazine, Inland Northwest Steelhead: Don't Assume They'll Bounce Back by David Moskowitz https://view.joomag.com/north-40-fly-shop-emagazineoctober-2017/0211691001506546403?short The Drake Magazine, Columbia Conundrum http://www.drakemag.com/back-issues/2017/summer/1787-columbia-conundrum.html Gink and Gasoline, Wild Steelhead on the Menu? by Alex Lovett-Woodsum http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fishing-news/wild-steelhead-on-the-menu/ CB Bulletin, Fall Fishing Opens to Lower Than Usual Chinook Returns; Season Includes Rolling Steelhead Closure http://www.cbbulletin.com/439345.aspx The Spokesman Review, Poor run may spawn steelheading restrictions http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/apr/01/poor-run-may-spawn-steelheading-restrictions/

2018 and Beyond As you can see, The Conservation Angler is undertaking serious and targeted efforts to help restore and protect wild anadromous fish populations. TCA has established that we get results with focused, persistent effort, and that we are nimble and can pivot quickly . TCA will not simply lament what has been lost, and we will not forget either. We are willing to tear down the obstacles to wild fish recovery so that the fish themselves can do the rest. Based upon our record of success, and with your help, we will make meaningful progress conserving wild Pacific salmon and steelhead and creating a new conservation angling tradition for the next millennium. Thank you for your ongoing support of our efforts.

2017 Report

We Need Your Support and Involvement!

Donate Today There are several easy, convenient, secure ways to make donations: -Online by credit card or PayPal through our on-line secure portal at www.theconservationangler.org/donate.html -By check. Please make your check out to “Wild Salmon Science & Conservation Fund” and mail to: The Conservation Angler, 16430 72nd Ave W, Edmonds, WA 98026 We can also accept matching gifts, recurring monthly gifts, stock transfers and property donations. Please contact us at theconservationangler@gmail.com or (425) 501-9851

Friends of the Conservation Angler In addition to our self-funding Kamchatka Steelhead Project partnership, we are excited to offer a new program in partnership with The Fly Shop (Redding, California).

You join Friends of the Conservation Angler and then book your adventure destination travel (other fishing destinations throughout the world) through The Fly Shop. Tell us/ TFS where you want to go and TFS will handle all the booking arrangements, travel, visas, travel/medical insurance. 2% of the retail value of your booking comes directly to TCA. This adds nothing to the cost of your adventure but provides significant funding for TCA conservation programs—it's easy, fun, and cost efficient! Contact us for the details and mechanics at theconservationangler@gmail.com

photos by Robert Sheley

TCA Board of Directors

TCA Science Advisors

Pete Soverel, Edmonds, WA (founder and President) Tom Pero, Mill Creek, WA (Vice-President) Jim Van Loan, Steamboat, OR Robert Sheley, Portland, OR Robert Kirschner, Portland, OR Karl Konecny, Glide, OR David Moskowitz, Portland, OR (Secretary to the Board)

Bill M. Bakke, Portland, OR Kirill V. Kuzishchin, Moscow, RU Jim Lichatowich, St. Helens, OR Bill McMillan, Cement, WA Jack Stanford, Twisp, WA Richard Williams, Boise, ID

Washington Office: 16430 72nd Ave. West, Edmonds, Washington 98026 Oregon Office: 3241 NE 73rd Ave. Portland, Oregon 97213 theconservationangler@gmail.com www.theconservationangler.org

Protecting Columbia Basin Steelhead, and 25 Years of Success in Kamchatka

The Conservation Angler: 2018 – 2019 Mid-Year Report - Next Steps in 2019 2018 has been one of the busiest and most fruitful years in The Conservation Angler’s existence. Our mix of policy analysis and aggressive advocacy based on the best available science has yielded many victories for the fish we love.

Some highlights from 2018 include: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Securing conservation measures for Snake River wild steelhead, including severely depressed wild B-run steelhead, into 2019, including amended fishing regulations Securing wild steelhead protection through advocacy for Cold Water Refugia protections in the Columbia by both Oregon and Washington to protect resting migrating wild fish Completing our 25th year of successful scientific research and monitoring in Kamchatka where wild steelhead have rebounded enormously in the absence of industrial poaching and unregulated harvest Securing a wild fish sanctuary at the Columbia - Deschutes River confluence to protect resting and migrating wild steelhead and salmon during their migration home to natal waters.

Ending the Corps of Engineer's non-native hatchery summer steelhead stocking program in the Willamette and Santiam Rivers.

Leading formation of a conservation partnership assume publication responsibilities for The Osprey: International Journal of Salmon & Steelhead Conservation - increasing regular readership from 1800 to more than 50,000 Advocated for a conservation-oriented wild winter steelhead fishery on the Skagit River Awarded three new Lamzov academic merit prizes and continued support for Lamzov scholarship recipient

Our ambitious goals for the remainder of 2019 and 2020 include: • Expanded KSP program to include a new river system in SW Kamchatka to assess current status of wild steelhead in a system we first evaluated in 1998 • Develop an effective legal and scientific challenge of the Upper Willamette Hatchery and Genetic Management Plan • Work with management agencies to update lapsed FMEP’s (California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho) which in some cases have not been updated/reassessed in 20 years despite ESA legal mandates to do so rendering many current authorized fisheries illegal; • Secure for and legislative approval for an independent evaluation of major hatchery programs and their scientific, ecological, social, fiscal impacts on wild and native fish assemblages.

• TCA is conducting an in-depth review of staff resources and capacity building initiative We know that you support many worthy conservation organizations. We applaud your commitment to wild fish conservation. Dollar for dollar, TCA gets the biggest bang for your wild fish buck - in the Columbia, on the Snake, around Puget Sound, Kamchatka -- no organization is taking more effective action ensuring the future includes wild steelhead and spring chinook. We are a lean and nimble organization. We need your support. Please, make a significant gift to The Conservation Angler supporting our many conservation programs on behalf of the wild fish we cherish insuring their abundance for your grandchildren.

We can’t do it without your support.

Sincerely yours,

Pete Soverel, President

David Moskowitz, Executive Director

1. Cold Water Refugia Essential for Wild Fish on the Columbia and the Oregon Coast TCA has been pushing Oregon and Washington to adopt and establish wild fish sanctuaries where cold or cooler waters create refugia for migrating wild salmon and steelhead facing a warm and warming Columbia River every spring and summer since 2015.

In August, 2018, upon TCA’s unrelenting advocacy, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission directed ODFW to create a wild fish sanctuary at the Columbia - Deschutes River confluence where all angling was prohibited so that migrating and resting wild steelhead and salmon (one of the lowest runs in decades) could fully realize the benefits of the cooler Deschutes River water entering the very warm Columbia River.

Commissioners also discussed the need to consider a statewide rule that could be implemented to protect cold water sanctuaries in rivers throughout the state as climate change impacts begin to place wild salmon and steelhead at risk in other rivers and bays.

The Conservation Angler also asked Washington to protect cold water refugia both downstream and upstream of Bonneville Dam at numerous times through the summer season.

Finally, providing relief for low returns of wild salmon and steelhead throughout the Columbia, Oregon and Washington enacted a complete sportfishing closure from to the Snake River on September 12, 2018.

The Conservation Angler and our partners will continue to push for regulations to protect wild salmon and steelhead and the cold water refugia critical to their migration and survival.

Both Oregon and Washington should enact permanent rules to create migratory sanctuaries for ESA-listed wild steelhead and salmon.

2. Wild Snake River Basin Summer Steelhead Protection On October 9, 2018, The Conservation Angler and four other conservation groups sent notice to Idaho officials of our intent to file an ESA Take lawsuit to protect wild Snake River Steelhead.

TCA along with Wild Fish Conservancy, Friends of the Clearwater, Snake River Waterkeeper and Idaho Rivers United sent notice to Idaho of our intent to file suit against state officials for violations of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) regarding the authorization and implementation of fisheries that harm ESA-listed Snake River Steelhead. On December 7, The Conservation Angler and our coalition members reached agreement that would provide Snake River Basin Steelhead with protections in Idaho’s fisheries for 2018 2019.

“The ESA’s 60-day notice provision achieved its purpose – the parties ultimately were able to agree on measures that significantly reduce the effects of the unpermitted take of wild fish and avoid litigation – while creating an opening for all parties to begin an important and enduring conversation about wild fish and rivers,” said Dave Becker, an attorney representing the conservation organizations.

We gained specific river closures and the Idaho River Community Alliance’s commitment to voluntarily implement conservation angling practices, including: ✓ keeping wild (intact adipose fin) steelhead in the water while they are being released, ✓ use of single barbless hooks, and ✓ the mandatory retention of adipose-finclipped hatchery steelhead Taken together, these reduced the effects of angling on wild steelhead. These are valuable interim measures protected wild fish when the season reopened, while allowing focus on longterm protections or strategies that will save steelhead, such as states' fisheries management plans or breaching the lower four Snake River dams.

Idaho has historically been a strong steward of its natural resources and at the forefront of wild fish and wild river conservation. Idaho has the wildest places, the wildest rivers and the wildest fish for people everywhere to experience. Our legal action on the wild B-run steelhead crisis has awoken the Idaho spirit and we hope our shared concern for the future will preserve the essential wildness of Idaho and its wild steelhead.

3. 2018 Kamchatka Steelhead Project

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● 2018 marks the twenty fifth year of the groundbreaking, joint Russian and American Kamchatka Steelhead Project. Over that period, we have established the efficacy of our unique model combining sponsoring anglers who contribute data collection by non-lethal fly fishing that produces a great deal of raw data that receives a high level of analysis and evaluation which has led to scores of published scientific papers and fresh insights into steelhead behavior, life history structures, genetic composition, evolutionary history and strong recovery abilities.

One pay off: the WDFW scientist took the KSP model back to Washington and convinced her department to partner with The Conservation Angler in a longterm study of Hoh River steelhead populations integrating volunteer data collection with WDFW’s remote sensing;

A brief recounting is in order: ●

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We have partnered and sponsored field participation with a wide range of prestigious scientific entities: Moscow State University, Russian Academy of Sciences, Severdlov Institute of Evolution, Washington State University, Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of California (Davis), Eastern Missouri University, and the University of Washington; The Conservation Angler has sponsored multiple management agencies: Russian Ministry of Environment, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US National Marine Fisheries Service and Forest Service; Promoted development of angling ecotourism in Kamchatka while training

local outfitters, conducting exploratory assessments of angling potential in over 20 different Kamchatka rivers; Founded angling programs that have been passed on to commercial outfitters on multiple rivers; Trained dozens of international fly fishing guides; Fostered local businesses with over $4,000,000 in outfitter and helicopter charter payments; Provided $875,000 in direct scientific payments and sponsoring field participation by accredited scientists from Moscow State University, Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife.

The sponsorships expose agency biologists to completely wild steelhead populations and allows them to integrate volunteers with critical and rigorous scientific study.

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Fostered steelhead conservation. Under our leadership and physical presence, which prevents serious poaching, wild steelhead now are thriving in the rivers under our protection - with runs of 8,000 to 25,000 wild fish; Laid the foundation for protected area designations; Solidified our long-standing relationship with The Fly Shop in Redding, CA as our booking/fund-raising partner. They are completely professional with 100% reliable travel connections, knowledge of the rivers (they second to The Conservation Angler program directors as head guides on each of our KSP rivers).

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Additionally, The Fly Shop provides 2% of retail for all destination travel to any world-wide destination. Note: this is not 1% of profits but 2% of the total retail – a huge commitment unmatched by any other business.

Please book all your destination travel with The Fly Shop (800) 669-3474.

The 2018 field season built upon past successes.

Our outfitter, Kamchatka Trophy Hunts, has the program well dialed in with great staff, comfortable accommodations, reliable equipment and knowledgeable guides.

Environmental conditions proved a bit challenging with several periods of high water.

In spite of this, all rivers provided very high quality steelhead fly fishing. We can state with confidence that the Kvachina, Snotalvayam and Utholok provide the most unique steelhead fly fishing on earth.

Thus, it is no surprise that our 2019 programs are fully booked. At present, KSP 2020 has 4 open sponsorships during the 1st Session on the Kvachina and 2 sponsorships in the 2nd session.

The Utholok Camp is already full. If you are interested, please contact us without delay.

Kamchatka offers a chance to go back in time to experience wild steelhead in their virtually unchanged habitat and at peak abundance, all while contributing the deeper understanding and protection of this remarkable wild fish landscape.

Call The Conservation Angler direct at (425) 501-8852 or Justin Miller at The Fly Shop (800) 669-3474.

4. Willamette Wild Winter Steelhead The Conservation Angler and Willamette Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 2017 alleging violations of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) created by the collection, production, release and fishing on non-native hatchery summer-run steelhead released in the North and South Santiam Rivers as they adversely impact ESA-list wild winter steelhead of the Upper Willamette River.

The summer steelhead hatchery program was an after-thought fishery to spring chinook and winter steelhead mitigation from lost habitat and lost fisheries when the USACE began construction of more than a dozen large flood control and hydroelectric power dams throughout the Willamette River basin above Willamette Falls at Oregon City in the 1950s.

TCA and Willamette Riverkeeper prevailed on three of four allegations, requiring the USACE to reinitiate consultation with NOAA Fisheries, forcing ODFW to try to boot-strap a Hatchery Genetic Management Plan (HGMP) for summer steelhead to an already-released draft environmental impact study for Upper Willamette River spring chinook, and most significantly, motivating the USACE to end funding for the hatchery summer steelhead program on the Santiam River. We were

represented by Pete Frost and Andrew Hawley from the Western Environmental Law Center.

As with many legal efforts, our targets have changed for this chameleon hatchery program and our next challenges will be against NOAA Fisheries and ODFW as NOAA approved of the entire Willamette hatchery plan with a convoluted rationale, and the Oregon Legislature approved tax-payer funding for ODFW to continue the out-of-basin hatchery program.

5. Skagit Wild Steelhead Conservation and Recovery Pete Soverel and Bill McMillan led TCA’s efforts in seeking accountability from NOAA Fisheries and WDFW as they considered opening the Skagit River for sport and tribal fisheries in early 2018 and 2019. TCA participated in coalition efforts in multiple forums to address harvest and hatchery problems that had driven the Skagit’s wild winter steelhead to very low levels - requiring WDFW to previously close the Skagit to sport fishing and eliminate hatchery winter steelhead releases.

The Skagit wild steelhead populations, freed from the impacts of a harvest fishery and damaging hatchery releases, steadily grew in abundance, distribution and life history diversity. However, the “recovery” of the Skagit spurred calls from many anglers and the tribes to open the fishery and to re-establish a hatchery program to support tribal and sport steelhead harvest.

The co-manager’s (WDFW, NOAA and the Treaty Tribes) proposal allowed a fishery that did not limit mortality or contribute to progress towards achieving the viability goal of 44,500 wild adult winter steelhead. Critically, their plans did not include effective provisions for monitoring or enforcement.

TCA proposed fisheries that were designed to provide for angling opportunity while ensuring angling related steelhead mortalities would not exceed the NOAA take standard of 2% for the recreational component. Our proposal would be accomplished by integrating mortalities, which can be calculated based upon angling methods, into the fisheries regimes.

TCA and Wild Fish Conservancy continue to urge caution as WDFW moved to allow catch and release fishery plans for the 2019 sport and tribal fishing seasons. Sadly, low returns as well as a failure to secure state funding for the Skagit monitoring and observation plans led to a sport fishing closure this spring. Despite not being able to monitor fisheries, WDFW still allowed tribal commercial harvest during some extremely low flow periods.

6. Connecting Hatchery and Harvest Reform with Orca Survival TCA was one of the first organizations to call for immediate ocean and marine harvest reductions on chinook salmon in order to address one of the principle factors affecting the health of the Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Pod facing imminent extinction - a lack of the preferred prey (chinook salmon).

Beginning in 2020, ocean and marine harvest of chinook salmon will be reduced starting in

Alaska and British Columbian waters. This small slow step will eventually mean there will be more chinook for the Orcas, higher wild escapements into Puget Sound Rivers, the Olympic Peninsula and also in the Columbia River. All without the need to increase hatchery production of chinook in Oregon and Washington. TCA will continue to advocate for fisheries reductions as the best near-term action to provide prey for the SRKW pod.

7.

A New Conceptual Framework: Wild Pacific Salmon: A Threatened Legacy

Some of the most experienced and preeminent salmon ecologists and scientists have joined forces to produce a new conceptual framework for protecting wild Pacific salmon.

Wild Pacific Salmon: A Threatened Legacy: Expanded with Recommendations was written

by Jim Lichatowich, Rick Williams, Bill Bakke, Jim Myron, David Bella, Bill McMillan, Jack Stanford and David Montgomery along with Kurt Beardslee and Nick Gayeski.

Salmon are a part of nature’s trust, which creates a special obligation for the governmental agencies charged with their management. They must act as trustees of the wild salmon and protect them consistent with the long-standing public trust doctrine. Their obligation is to maintain the wild salmon legacy in good health for citizen beneficiaries of present and future generations. Salmon managers have abrogated that responsibility and have converted prudent management of the wild salmon to the production of commodities for the benefit of sport and commercial fisheries. This amounts to privatization of the trust. The salmon commodity is produced in a large industrial operation (hatcheries) for the benefit of a few. Reliance on this industrial production system has reduced or eliminated the salmon’s ecological underpinnings and created the impoverishment of wild salmon that exists today. Large industrial operations often create victims among native fauna. In many different ways, wild salmon are the victims of the large industrial production system of hatcheries. In this document we describe the wild salmon’s problem and recommend solutions.

8.

Osprey Journal 2.0

The Osprey: International Journal of Salmon and Steelhead Conservation is a scientific journal published by a consortium of like-minded conservation organizations. Pete Soverel, one of the original founders, lead the creation of an expanded management and editorial committee that includes Wild Steelhead Coalition, Steelhead Society of British Columbia, World Salmon Forum, Trout Unlimited, Flyfishers Federation International, Skeena Wild, The Conservation Angler and Wild Steelheaders United along with long-time editor Jim Yuskavitch and together, have re-booted the Osprey Journal in higher quality and content.

The Osprey depends upon financial support from wild fish advocates, our readers. Your generous support makes possible The Osprey so we can continue to provide information and commentary to the general public, legislators and management agencies/officials about the management, science, and recovery of wild Pacific steelhead and salmon.

The Conservation Angler provides both financial and editorial support to The Osprey and our own president, Pete Soverel, serves as the chair and managing director of the editorial and committee ins support of The Osprey’s mission.

9.

Hatchery Funding battles in Oregon on the McKenzie and the Klamath Rivers TCA spearheaded efforts to end funding spring chinook hatchery programs in two Oregon rivers. Oregon is attempting to acquire and begin producing hatchery spring chinook at the Leaburg Hatchery currently owned by the USACE. Short-term funding for this effort was authorized by the 2018 Oregon Legislature however long-term funding for the acquisition and future operation was not included in ODFW’s budget in the 2019 Legislative Session until the very last day of the session. TCA has asked Governor Brown to veto the pork-barrel spending bill for Leaburg Hatchery.

For over 30 years, The Osprey has served as the leading source of information and commentary regarding the management, science and recovery of Pacific steelhead and salmon. To help recover these fish populations, it is crucial that wild fish advocates maintain a resounding and unified voice. A council of internationally prominent scientific advisors provide editorial guidance.

On the Klamath River, a long-term river restoration effort will soon see the removal of four mainstem dams in northern California and one in Oregon. This will allow fall chinook, ESA-listed coho and summer steelhead to naturally, volitionally re-colonize the areas of the river opened by the removal of the lower four dams.

Upper Klamath hatchery production is highly premature until wild spring chinook and their genetic diversity are protected in the currently undammed portion of the Klamath River.

ODFW’s administrative rules prioritize the natural re-colonization for at least three salmon or steelhead lifecycles. However, ODFW proposed construction of salmon hatchery facilities on Upper Klamath Lake for spring chinook in early 2018. Based on research by Bill Bakke into the historical record, TCA found reports noting that spring chinook had largely disappeared from Upper Klamath Lake even before white settlers came to the region.

Upper Klamath Lake is over 4,000 feet above sea-level and presents extremely unique habitat and life history requirements and challenges.

Recovering the remnant populations of remaining natural-origin spring chinook in the Klamath must be the priority and will require a multi-tier approach that demands complete and immediate protection of lower Klamath River spring chinook populations. Additionally, two dams remain on the Klamath River in Oregon below Klamath Lake – Link River and Keno Dam – and effective passage is not secure.

Other organizations including Wild Salmon Center, Trout Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy all supported chinook hatchery construction on Upper Klamath Lake despite existing rules requiring volitional recolonization for wild salmon and steelhead for at least three life-cycles (about 20 years).

10.

ESA Listing Petitions TCA is working on new petitions to list summer steelhead in Washington’s Puget Sound and on the Olympic Peninsula. Bill McMillan has researched and written the most extensive analysis of historical presence and abundance of summer steelhead. This paper, under review, will provide the scientific and historical basis for these listing petitions.

Summer Steelhead. We are working with several organizations and individuals from Idaho.

The scientific basis for being able to distinguish summer steelhead where they are currently lumped with winter steelhead comes from new genetic analysis and technological tools developed by Dr. Mike Miller from the University of California at Davis.

Other Accomplishments and Campaigns

TCA is also working on an ESA listing effort for Snake River B-run steelhead. This petition will assert that wild B-run steelhead are a separate and distinct population from Snake River Basin

A. Joined several groups in filing an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in support of Washington Treaty Tribes’ “culvert case” that will force repair of thousands of culverts currently blocking passage for anadromous fish in Washington.

B. Brought attention to the plight of Deschutes River Spring Chinook which have dropped to perilously low levels but on which ODFW authorizes a 2018 sport season, and 2019 Columbia River sport and tribal commercial fishing.

C. Joined an administrative scientific challenge of Columbia River Compact agencies attempts to decrease the accepted mortality rate for in-river gillnet fisheries on steelhead.

D. TCA organized a tour of marine mammal efforts at Bonneville Dam, helping identify the shift in sea lion species presence from California to Stellar Sea Lions that was occurring, but which was not being addressed by state and tribal agencies.

Other 2019 Initiatives: ➢ Watchdogging WDFW’s Revision of its Hatchery Policy C-3619. ➢ Outreach Campaign for Markets and restaurants aimed to conserve wild Columbia River steelhead. ➢ Administrative Petitions to Reform Angling Regulations in Critical Rivers and Critical Species. ➢ Develop and advocacy for a state and region-wide Hatchery Evaluation and Accountability Project ➢ Advocacy before the NW Power Planning & Conservation Council for a wild fish working group. ➢ Developing a White Paper on the Failure of Mitigation Promises by Private and Public Dam Builders

Protecting Columbia Basin Steelhead, and 25 Years of Success in Kamchatka

The Conservation Angler: 2019 Report - Next Steps in 2020 2019 has been a tough year for the wild steelhead and salmon that we love. The Conservation Angler’s mix of policy analysis and aggressive advocacy based on the best available science has held ground in most cases, but true “victories” for wild fish were difficult to come by. Some highlights from 2019 include: ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Wild steelhead protection through securing migratory refugia protections in the Columbia and Snake Rivers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho to protect extremely depressed returning wild steelhead and salmon; Completing our 26th year of successful scientific research and monitoring in Kamchatka where wild steelhead have rebounded enormously in the absence of industrial poaching and unregulated harvest; Securing a wild fish sanctuary at the Columbia - Deschutes River confluence to protect resting and migrating wild steelhead and salmon during their migration home to natal waters; Ending Federal support for non-native hatchery summer steelhead stocking programs in the Willamette and Santiam Rivers.

Steady leadership of the conservation partnership that has assumed publication responsibilities for The Osprey: International Journal of Salmon & Steelhead Conservation – while increasing regular readership ten-fold.

Awarded three new Lamzov academic merit prizes and continued support for Lamzov scholarship recipients.

Expanded KSP program will include Ozernaya River in SW Kamchatka to assess current status of wild steelhead in a watershed first evaluated in 1998.

Our ambitious goals for 2020 include: ❖ Filing an effective legal and scientific challenge of the Upper Willamette Hatchery and Genetic Management Plan ❖ Secure legal and scientific review for lapsed Fishery Management and Evaluation Plans (FMEP’s) in California, Oregon and Washington which in some cases have not been updated/reassessed in 20 years despite ESA legal mandates to do so - rendering many current authorized fisheries illegal; ❖ Secure legislative approval and funding for an independent evaluation of major hatchery programs and their scientific, ecological, social, fiscal impacts on wild and native fish assemblages; ❖ Registration as a Canadian not-for-profit to facilitate collaborative initiatives with BC partners; ❖ Collaborative program with new owners of Zhupanova River lodges leading to the incorporation of Zhupanova watershed as part of a 4.5 million acre protected area – over twice the area of Yellowstone National Park. The protected area consists of Zhupanova basin buffer zone, Nalychevo National Park and Kronotsky bio-reserve; ❖ Continued expansion of The Osprey readership, subscriptions and depth of scientific and conservation editorial themes; ❖ Developing a capacity-building initiative and an in-depth review of staff resources.

We have an established record of accomplishment. We need your support to continue our many worthy conservation activities. Dollar for dollar, TCA gets the highest bang for your wild fish buck - in the Columbia, on the Snake, around Puget Sound, Kamchatka – no other conservation organization takes more effective action to ensure our future includes wild steelhead and spring chinook – the two most vulnerable fish in the Pacific.

We are a lean and nimble organization – and we need your support. Please, make a significant, year-end gift to The Conservation Angler supporting our many conservation programs on behalf of the wild fish we cherish – your gift now will insure wild abundance for your grandchildren. You may make your gift by check (The Conservation Angler), PayPal, or appreciated stock (contact us 425 501 9852) for details. We can’t do it without your support.

May the Wild Salmon and Steelhead survive us,

Pete Soverel, President

David Moskowitz, Executive Director

1. Cold Water Refugia Essential for Wild Fish on the Columbia and the Oregon Coast TCA has been pushing Oregon and Washington to adopt and establish wild fish sanctuaries where cold or cooler waters create refugia for migrating wild salmon and steelhead facing a warm and warming Columbia River every spring and summer since 2015.

In August, 2019, upon TCA’s unrelenting advocacy, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission directed ODFW to create a wild fish sanctuary at the Columbia - Deschutes River confluence where all angling was prohibited so that migrating and resting wild steelhead and salmon (one of the lowest runs in decades) could fully realize the benefits of the cooler Deschutes River water entering the very warm Columbia River.

The Oregon Commissioner has directed ODFW to consider a statewide rule that could be implemented to protect cold water sanctuaries in rivers throughout the state as climate change impacts begin to place wild salmon and steelhead at risk in other rivers and bays.

The Conservation Angler also asked Washington to protect cold water refugia both downstream and upstream of Bonneville Dam at numerous times through the summer season.

Finally, providing relief for low returns of wild salmon and steelhead throughout the Columbia, Oregon and Washington enacted a complete sportfishing closure on the Columbia to protect wild steelhead.

The Conservation Angler and our partners will continue to push for regulations to protect wild salmon and steelhead and the cold water refugia critical to their migration and survival.

Both Oregon and Washington should enact permanent rules to create migratory sanctuaries for ESA-listed wild steelhead and salmon.

2. Snake River Wild Summer Steelhead During the Fall of 2018, The Conservation Angler and four other conservation groups sent notice to Idaho officials of our intent to file an Endangered Species Act lawsuit to protect wild Snake River Steelhead.

TCA along with Wild Fish Conservancy, Friends of the Clearwater, Snake River Waterkeeper and Idaho Rivers United sent notice to Idaho of our intent to file suit against state officials for violations of the federal ESA regarding the authorization and implementation of fisheries that harm ESA-listed Snake River Steelhead. On December 7, The Conservation Angler and our coalition members reached agreement that would provide Snake River Basin Steelhead with protections in Idaho’s fisheries for 2018 – 2019.

While a lawsuit was never ultimately filed, and Idaho received federal authorization to conduct its fisheries, the uproar over possibly losing sport fishing in the Clearwater, Snake and Salmon Rivers for Idaho’s iconic wild steelhead has had lasting effects throughout the region.

Idaho’s governor formed a state-wide public task force which has galvanized the many river communities and prompted within them a stronger conservation perspective - which has only become fiercer as poor 2019 wild steelhead returns resulted in actual fishery closures in the Snake and Clearwater.

Our joint 60-day notice of intent to file suit in 2018 achieved its purpose – the parties were able to agree on immediate measures that reduced the effects of the unpermitted take of wild fish and avoid litigation – while creating an opening for all parties to begin a critically important and enduring conversation about wild fish and rivers.

Idaho has historically been a strong steward of its natural resources and at the forefront of wild fish and wild river conservation. Idaho has the wildest places, the wildest rivers and the wildest fish for people everywhere to experience. Our legal action on the wild B-run steelhead crisis has awoken the Idaho spirit and we hope our shared concern for the future will preserve the essential wildness of Idaho and its wild steelhead.

3. 2019 Kamchatka Steelhead Project

2019 marks the twenty-sixth year of the groundbreaking, joint Russian and American Kamchatka Steelhead Project. Over that period, we have established the efficacy of our unique model combining sponsoring anglers who contribute data collection by non-lethal fly fishing that produces a great deal of raw data that receives a high level of analysis and evaluation and has led to scores of published scientific papers and fresh insights into steelhead behavior, life history structures, genetic composition, evolutionary history and strong recovery abilities.

A brief KSP recounting is in order: ●

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TCA has sponsored field participation with a wide range of prestigious scientific entities: Moscow State University, Russian Academy of Sciences, Severdlov Institute of Evolution, Washington State University, Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of California (Davis), Eastern Missouri University, and the University of Washington; The Conservation Angler has sponsored multiple management agencies: Russian Ministry of Environment, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US National Marine Fisheries Service and Forest Service; Promoted development of angling ecotourism in Kamchatka while training local outfitters, conducting exploratory assessments of angling potential in over 20 different Kamchatka rivers; Founded angling programs that have helped develop Russian-led fly fisheries by local outfitters and guides on multiple rivers; Fostered local businesses with over $4,000,000 in outfitter and helicopter charter payments; Provided $875,000 in direct scientific payments and sponsoring field participation by accredited scientists from Moscow State University, Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife.

The sponsorships expose agency biologists to completely wild steelhead populations and allows them to integrate volunteers with critical and rigorous scientific study.

Under TCA leadership and physical presence, which prevents industrial-style poaching, wild steelhead now are thriving in the rivers under our protection - with allwild runs that have rebounded since the early 1990s by five-fold; The KSP has provided the foundation for protected area designations, though future progress is uncertain;

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Our long-standing relationship with The Fly Shop in Redding, CA as our booking/fundraising partner is stronger than ever. They are the consummate professional outfit with 100% reliable travel connections and guides have intimate knowledge of each KSP river.

The Fly Shop contributes 2% of retail for all destination travel to any world-wide destination. Note: this is not 1% of profits but 2% of the total retail – a huge commitment to support conservation unmatched by any other business.

Please book all your destination travel with The Fly Shop (800) 669-3474.

Our outfitter, Kamchatka Trophy Hunts, has the program well dialed in with great staff, comfortable accommodations, reliable equipment and knowledgeable guides.

Environmental conditions were challenging with several periods of low and high water. Despite this, all rivers provided exceptional steelhead fly fishing while supporting the on-going scientific research. Adding the scientific work, the Kvachina, Snotalvayam and Utholok provide the most unique steelhead fly fishing on earth.

Thus, it is no surprise that our 2020 programs are fully booked. At present, KSP 2021 has some open sponsorships on the Kvachina but the Utholok Camp is already full. If you are interested, please contact us without delay.

Kamchatka offers a chance to go back in time to experience wild steelhead in their virtually unchanged habitat and at peak abundance, all while contributing the deeper understanding and protection of this remarkable wild fish landscape.

Call Pete Soverel directly at (425) 501-8852

4. Willamette Wild Winter Steelhead The Conservation Angler and Willamette Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 2017 alleging violations of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) created by the collection, production, release and fishing on non-native hatchery summer-run steelhead released in the North and South Santiam Rivers as they adversely impact ESA-list wild winter steelhead of the Upper Willamette River.

TCA and Willamette Riverkeeper prevailed on three of four allegations, requiring the USACE to reinitiate consultation with NOAA Fisheries, forcing ODFW to try to boot-strap a Hatchery Genetic Management Plan (HGMP) for summer steelhead to an already-released draft environmental impact study for Upper Willamette River spring chinook, and most significantly, motivating the USACE to end funding for the hatchery summer steelhead program on the Santiam River. We were represented by Pete Frost and Andrew Hawley from the Western Environmental Law Center.

As with many legal efforts, our targets have changed for this chameleon hatchery program and our next challenges will be against NOAA Fisheries and ODFW as NOAA approved the entire Willamette hatchery plan with a convoluted rationale, and the Oregon Legislature

approved tax-payer funding for ODFW to continue the out-of-basin hatchery program.

5. Skagit River Wild Steelhead Conservation and Recovery

Pete Soverel and Bill McMillan have led our efforts seeking accountability by NOAA Fisheries and WDFW as they opened the Skagit River for sport and tribal fisheries in early 2018 and again in 2019. TCA has participated in coalition efforts to address harvest and hatchery practices that drove Skagit wild winter steelhead to very low levels and led to fishing closures and the end of hatchery production.

Freed from the impacts of a harvest fishery and damaging hatchery releases, Skagit wild steelhead steadily grew in abundance, distribution and life history diversity. This “recovery” of the Skagit spurred calls from many anglers and the tribes to open the fishery and to re-establish a hatchery program to support tribal and sport steelhead harvest.

The co-manager’s proposal authorized a fishery that will not contribute to achieving the viability goal of 44,500 wild winter steelhead, nor did it include effective monitoring or enforcement.

TCA proposed fisheries that were designed to provide for angling opportunity while ensuring angling related steelhead mortalities would not exceed the NOAA take standard of 2% for the

recreational component. Our proposal would be accomplished by integrating mortalities, which can be calculated based upon angling methods, into the fisheries regimes.

TCA and Wild Fish Conservancy continue to urge caution as catch and release fishery plans for the 2019 sport and tribal fishing seasons were approved. Ultimately, low returns and the failure to secure state funding for the Skagit monitoring and observation plans led to a sport fishing closure this spring. Alarmingly, WDFW allowed tribal commercial harvest during some extremely low flow periods.

Despite all this revised management action, the Skagit lacks adequate protection for early-return steelhead (not just in the Skagit but throughout Puget Sound and the rest of Washington where wild winter steelhead occur). Wild steelhead recovery can only occur with recovery of the early-timed component that was once dominant and is now a remnant. The early-return fish are presently so depressed that no fishery should occur for them – tribal or sport – as both fisheries target locations off tributary mouths when it is critical that every single female is able to return to spawn, but where presently 0-3 females are returning to the Mid Skagit tributaries as evidenced by redds counted prior to March 15th. TCA supports fisheries on the later return fish if there are sufficient escapements and redds occurring from which to anticipate maintaining and growing their numbers throughout the basin.

6. Connecting Hatchery and Harvest Reform with Orca Survival TCA was one of the first organizations to call for immediate ocean and marine harvest reductions on chinook salmon in order to address one of the principle factors affecting the health of the Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) Pod facing imminent extinction - a lack of the preferred prey (chinook salmon).

Beginning in 2020, ocean and marine harvest of chinook salmon will be reduced starting in Alaska and British Columbian waters. This small slow step will eventually mean there will be more chinook for the Orcas, higher wild escapements into Puget Sound Rivers, the Olympic Peninsula as well as in the Columbia River. All without the need to increase hatchery production of chinook in Oregon and Washington. Sadly, Washington approved additional funding for chinook hatchery production – TCA will fight against this flawed effort that poses huge risks for wild salmon throughout Puget Sound.

TCA will continue to advocate for marine harvest fisheries reductions as the best near-term action to provide prey for the SRKW pod.

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An Unfinished Story: Managed Annihilation of Wild Pacific Salmon

Evernden gave us part of the reason it’s a fool’s bet when he stated that “the domesticated animal is a creature stranded in a foreign world, a world of which it can never ‘make sense’.”

Eighty years ago, Stanford University Professor Willis Rich told us we need to make the individual salmon population the unit to be treated in our management. Salmon managers did not take his advice. Instead salmon populations were lumped together into management units, which lead directly to mixed stock fisheries. Mixed-stock fisheries made it almost impossible to ensure that adequate numbers of wild salmon and steelhead escaped the fishery and returned to their home streams to spawn. Salmon biologists built a managerial system that prevented the attainment of what I call the first principle of salmon management: ensuring that enough fish from every wild population reached their spawning grounds to fully seed the habitat.

Jim Lichatowich has released a newly written essay that indicts current fishery management.

The Summary captures the essence: “It started with a good intention: to provide Americans cheap wholesome food from the nation’s rivers, estuaries and marine waters. In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, Spencer Fullerton Baird, the newly appointed Commissioner of Fisheries, believed he could easily achieve that goal.

To ensure a continuous supply of Pacific salmon, all he had to do was simplify wild salmon’s production system much like agriculture simplified the production of corn and other monocultures.

Simplification would be achieved by using facilities run with the efficiency of factories (hatcheries). From the beginning, artificial propagation of salmon was tied to an agricultural/industrial model. In addition to the laudable goal, hatcheries had a dark side. They were and continue to be a substitute for conservation and a significant part of the managed annihilation of wild Pacific salmon.

In their role as substitutes for conservation, hatcheries were chosen to mitigate the effects of dams and other habitat degrading activities. The word mitigation was used as a softer way to describe the trade of habitat for hatcheries. The trade of wild salmon habitat for hatcheries confirmed the hatchery’s role as a substitute for conservation and was part of managed annihilation of wild salmon and steelhead. It’s a fool’s bet to believe that salmon domesticated in the hatchery are our best hope for taking the species through climate change. Neil

The solution to managed annihilation has existed for some time in the several scientific journals dealing with fisheries. Salmon management has failed to incorporate that knowledge into its programs. Salmon managers have been using a coarse-grained approach rather than a fine-grained approach to salmon conservation. The coarse-grained approach uses management units (aggregates of populations) and mixed stock fisheries as well as a heavy reliance on hatcheries. The fine-grained approach protects the salmon’s evolutionary legacy, i.e. the tempo and scale of the many ecological processes and relationships that sustain wild salmon populations.

People ask why I continue to use my time to write about the plight of salmon when I should be enjoying my retirement. I’ve witnessed the wild salmon’s problems and, well, one of my favorite writers, Arundhati Roy, summed it up best: The trouble is that once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

And once you’ve seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out.

There’s no innocence. Either way, you’re accountable.

Jim’s essay is a critical follow up on a 2018 paper titled: A New Conceptual Framework: Wild Pacific Salmon: A Threatened Legacy Written collaboratively by some of the most experienced and preeminent salmon ecologists

and scientists – they produce a new conceptual framework for protecting wild Pacific salmon.

Wild Pacific Salmon: A Threatened Legacy: Expanded with Recommendations was written by Jim Lichatowich, Rick Williams, Bill Bakke, Jim Myron, David Bella, Bill McMillan, Jack Stanford and David Montgomery along with Kurt Beardslee and Nick Gayeski.

Wild Pacific Salmon: A Threatened Legacy is available here: https://theconservationangler.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/ legacy-pacific_salmon_2018_printing_copy.pdf

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Osprey Journal 2.0 The Osprey: International Journal of Salmon and Steelhead Conservation is a scientific journal published by a consortium of like-minded conservation organizations. TCA President Pete Soverel, one of the original Osprey founders, lead the creation of an expanded management and editorial committee that includes Wild Steelhead Coalition, Steelhead Society of British Columbia, World Salmon Forum, Flyfishers

Federation International, Skeena Wild, The Conservation Angler and Wild Steelheaders United. Together, along with long-time editor Jim Yuskavitch, we have re-booted the Osprey Journal with higher quality and content.

For over 30 years, The Osprey has served as a critical independent source of information and commentary regarding the management, science and recovery of Pacific steelhead and salmon – helping wild fish advocates maintain a resounding and credible voice. A council of internationally prominent scientific advisors provide editorial guidance.

The Osprey depends upon financial support from our readers. This generous support sustains The Osprey as it continues providing scientific articles and commentary to the general public, legislators and management agencies/officials about the management, science, and recovery of wild Pacific steelhead and salmon.

The Conservation Angler provides financial, administrative and editorial support to The Osprey.

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Hatchery Funding battles in Oregon on the McKenzie and the Klamath Rivers TCA spearheaded efforts to end funding spring chinook and summer steelhead hatchery programs in two Oregon rivers. Oregon is attempting to acquire the Leaburg Hatchery currently owned by the USACE. Short-term funding for this effort was authorized by the 2018 Oregon Legislature - however long-term funding for the acquisition and future operation was not included in ODFW’s budget in the 2019 Legislative Session until the very last day of the session. Governor Brown failed to veto this pork-barrel spending bill for Leaburg Hatchery.

The Native Fish Society also worked feverishly to urge legislative and executive action to end the harmful practices and wasteful expenditures.

On the Klamath River, a long-term river restoration effort will soon see the removal of four mainstem dams in northern California and one in Oregon. This will allow fall chinook, ESA-listed coho and summer steelhead to naturally, volitionally re-colonize the areas of the river opened by the dam removal.

ODFW’s administrative rules prioritize the natural re-colonization for at least three salmon or steelhead lifecycles. However, ODFW proposed construction of salmon hatchery facilities on Upper Klamath Lake for spring chinook in early 2018. Based on research by Bill Bakke into the historical record, TCA found reports noting that spring chinook had largely disappeared from Upper Klamath Lake even before white settlers came to the region.

Upper Klamath Lake is over 4,000 feet above sea-level and presents extremely unique habitat and life history requirements and challenges.

While recovering the remnant populations of remaining natural-origin spring chinook in the Klamath must be a priority, it will require a multi-tier approach that first demands complete and immediate protection of lower Klamath River spring chinook populations. Additionally, two dams remain on the Klamath River in Oregon below Klamath Lake – Link River and Keno Dam – and effective passage is not secure.

Upper Klamath hatchery production is highly premature until wild spring chinook and their genetic diversity are protected in the currently undammed portion of the Klamath River.

Many organizations supported ODFW’s bid for 2019 chinook hatchery construction on Upper Klamath Lake - despite existing administrative rules requiring volitional re-colonization for wild salmon and steelhead for at least three lifecycles (up to 24 years). TCA will demand that wild fish be provided the opportunity to recolonize the Klamath River – free from the

failed and damaging clutch of artificial production.

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ESA Listing Petitions TCA will file new Endangered Species Act (ESA) petitions to list summer steelhead in Washington’s Puget Sound and on the Olympic Peninsula. Bill McMillan has completed the most extensive analysis of historical presence and abundance of summer steelhead. This paper provides the scientific and historical basis for these listing petitions.

TCA is working closely with Friends of The Clearwater and the Wild Fish Conservancy on an ESA listing effort for Snake River B-run steelhead. This petition will assert that wild Brun steelhead are a separate and distinct population from Snake River Basin Summer Steelhead.

(photo by Steve Pettit)

The scientific basis for being able to distinguish summer steelhead population groups currently lumped with winter steelhead comes from new genetic analysis and technological tools developed by Dr. Mike Miller from the University of California at Davis. His groundbreaking work prompted important ESA Listing Petitions for iconic Klamath spring chinook populations in California (by the Karuk Tribe) and Oregon (by the Native Fish Society).

Other Accomplishments and Campaigns A. Joined several groups in filing an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in support of Washington Treaty Tribes’ “culvert case” that is forcing repair of thousands of culverts currently blocking passage for anadromous fish in Washington.

B. Successfully blocked a rule allowing Oregon anglers from deploying more than one fishing rod when fishing in the Willamette River for ESA-listed spring chinook and winter steelhead.

C. Successfully blocked ODFW’s attempt to allow barbed hooks as legal gear in Columbia River wild salmon and steelhead fisheries beginning in 2020.

D. Successfully asked the Oregon F&W Commission to reduce Snake River fall chinook bag limits from six hatchery fish to two hatchery fall chinook in order to reduce the encounter rate on ESA-listed wild fall chinook and summer steelhead.

E. Good news: In 2017, The Conservation Angler agreed to provide “standing” testimony in support of Wild Fish Conservancy’s lawsuit against Cooke Aquaculture for damages resulting from the collapse of Cooke’s Atlantic salmon net pens which released several hundred thousand Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound.

On the eve of court proceedings, Cooke folded and settled the case with WFC! Long live wild salmon in the Salish Sea!

Wild Fish are the future. Let’s help them make their way home in 2020 and beyond.

Watch for The Conservation Angler’s “20/20 Vision” in 2020!

These 2019 Initiatives will be a big part of our 2020 Workplan: ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢ ➢

Watchdogging WDFW’s Revision of its Hatchery Policy C-3619.

Outreach Campaign for Markets and restaurants aimed to conserve wild Columbia River steelhead.

Administrative Petitions to Reform Angling Regulations in Critical Rivers and Critical Species.

Advocacy for a state and region-wide Hatchery Evaluation and Accountability Project Advocacy at the NW Power Planning & Conservation Council for a wild fish working group.

Developing a White Paper on the Failure of Mitigation Promises by Private and Public Dam Builders Ensuring Climate Change resilience are factored into hatchery and harvest management reforms

2020 Prospectus for Wild Fish Advocacy Our Mission: The Conservation Angler advocates for wild fish and fisheries. We work to protect, conserve and restore wild steelhead, salmon, trout and char throughout their Pacific range using all legal, administrative and political means to prevent their extirpation and to foster a long-term recovery of wild stocks to fishable and harvestable abundance.

What follows are snapshots of the principal elements of our 2020 Conservation and Science Work.

KAMCHATKA STEELHEAD PROJECT Continue TCA over-sight/management of joint Russian-American Kamchatka Steelhead Project. The scientific and conservation program protects a virtually pristine wild steelhead assemblage on Kamchatka where habitat is not a limiting factor. Major reductions of industrial poaching have led to population productivity and abundance increases as well as expressions of extremely diverse life histories.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Maintain direction of the Kamchatka Steelhead Project in cooperation with Moscow State University and other Russian entities and with our exclusive outfitters The Fly Shop and Kamchatka Trophy Hunts. a. Sustain the Kvachina-Utkholok program b. Initiate exploratory scientific missions on other Kamchatkan rivers (Oblukovina assessment 2020).

2. Secure loop-hole angling closures on Kamchatkan steelhead rivers June 1 - September 15 annually to prevent steelhead poaching under guise of Char/Coho fishing.

3. Expand agency participation to include Pacific states, Canadian, tribal participation.

Columbia River Mainstem Fisheries Reform in Oregon and Washington In the face of poor marine productivity, unsustainable fishery regimes, and harmful hatchery and harvest regimes, Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead are at a rapidly rising risk of near-term extirpation.

Fish Management agencies focus on providing opportunity and harvest for non-treaty sport and commercial fishers, and they feign managing escapement by protecting hatchery broodstock collection while considering aggregate passage past mainstem dams as a satisfactory measure of wild spawning escapement into specific river reaches.

These practices are managed under the North of Falcon and Columbia River Compact as well as by the 2018-2028 Us. V. Oregon Fisheries Management Agreement.

The public’s access to and influence of these decision-making processes are severely limited.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Reform the Columbia River Compact’s public processes 2. Establish and implement river-by-river meaningful harvest and hatchery recovery strategies and practices for wild salmon/steelhead stocks 3. Establish and manage to wild fish recovery REQUIREMENTS as FIRST management responsibility which take precedence over all management goals 4. Develop and implement evaluation process (impact on wild stock recovery; cost/benefit; opportunity cost evaluation) for all Columbia/Snake river salmon/steelhead hatchery programs 5. Add a conservation component to the North of Falcon process including wild egg deposition requirements for each Columbia/Snake basin 6. Add conservation components to the Bi-state Commission Review of the Kitzhaber Plan 7. Secure conservation angling reforms for commercial and sport fishing plans that include: a. Closures to all fishing in Cold Water Refugia to provide wild steelhead and fall chinook sanctuaries. b. Limits to guided fishing and requires publicly accessible logbooks for guides c. Staggers fishery openings with observer data and escapement/passage d. Requires single barbless hooks e. Prohibits bait and use of any toxic substance used to cure or scent baits and lures

Snake River Recovery The Snake River Basin gives rise to some of the most important rivers in the west. These once-productive salmon and steelhead rivers, many of which are dammed, face some habitat challenges but it is fishery management that restricts their productivity. Wild fish in these basins face extensive hatchery production regimes that fuel a consumptive fishery and prevents wild escapement goals from being met which should drive recovery.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Snake River B-run Steelhead ESA Petition a. Evaluate the legal and biological support for Downgrading or Separate species listing 2. NOAA Hatchery Genetic Management Plan (HGMP) for Snake River steelhead a. Legal challenge 3. Challenge OR Fish Passage Waiver granted to Idaho Power Company for Hells Canyon Dam Complex Re-licensing 4. Idaho Fishery Management & Evaluation Plan (FMEP) challenge based on not meeting NOAA thresholds

California Steelhead and Salmon Recovery California has never secured NOAA approval for their freshwater fisheries for ESA-listed steelhead or coho salmon. They will also likely try to secure permanent status for the Iron Gate Hatchery, even after the four Klamath Dams are removed.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Klamath Dam Removal – Six Dams and Two Hatcheries a. Support Klamath Restoration Corp removal of 4 dams, recovery strategy based on wild fish b. drastically reduce/eliminate/phase out hatchery funding and production c. Iron Gate Hatchery De-Commissioning and Mitigation re-programming d. Advocate against Klamath Hatchery Expansion in Klamath Lake i. Support OFWC OARs on Basin Fish Management Rules for wild fish re-colonization ii. Enforce water quality and water quantity restoration 2. California Fishery Management and Evaluation Plan for ESA-listed wild steelhead a. 60-day ESA Notice b. Develop a list of demands, settlement points, develop outreach to allies and other stakeholders 3. South of Falcon and Pacific Salmon Treaty Reform for Klamath Fall Chinook and coho recovery

Oregon Coastal Fisheries Even though Oregon cut hatchery coho production after they were listed under the ESA, they continue to manage many watersheds for hatchery or broodstock programs based on wild fish. The Coastal Multispecies Management Plan is not living up to its promise as monitoring to ensure management objectives is not being adequately funded. Spring Chinook are in deep trouble, as are summer steelhead in the Siletz and Umpqua watersheds.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Prohibit toxic baits in coastal estuaries and streams 2. Ensure South Coast Multi-Species Plans lead with wild fish strategies 3. Enforcement of Coastal Multi-species Plan monitoring and adaptive management processes and requirement of precautionary practices without full complement of monitoring

Willamette River Basin The Willamette River Basin once produced as many spring chinook as the entire Columbia and Snake Rivers combined. A series of flood control dams constricted this fabric of salmonid productivity and it the species (along with winter steelhead) are mere ghosts of their historic abundance. Hatchery programs fueling an extensive sport and non-treaty commercial fishery in the Willamette and the Lower Columbia are flooding natal streams and further depressing wild productivity. Proposals to address the blocked access issues facing spring chinook and winter steelhead are increasingly technological and no proposals exist for reducing hatchery production. The growing urban and industrial demands for clean cold water will further endanger anadromous fish recovery.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Eliminate Summer Steelhead hatchery production 2. Willamette HGMP challenge verses US Army Corps and NOAA 3. Willamette Valley Project Reform a. Hatchery Mitigation is misplaced and failing b. Flood control benefits uncertain, and water allocation plan must aid fish and wildlife c. Fish passage reform requires removal and drawdowns

Olympic Peninsula and Western Washington Intense sport fishing and barely regulated tribal harvest of steelhead have reduced once-prolific wild steelhead populations in the Queets, Clearwater, Hoh, Calawah, Bogachiel and Sol Duc Rivers. Hatchery production has been slightly curtailed, but a lack of monitoring and inability to curtail the intense guided sport fishery maintains high pressure against low abundance and productivity of winter steelhead in what was the mecca of winter steelhead wonderland.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Pursue ESA listing for west-end rivers for winter (threatened or “species of concern”) and summer steelhead (endangered) before they decline even further 2. Watch-dog against wild steelhead broodstock programs and re-start Hoh River steelhead research efforts 3. Support legal challenge to proposed flood control dam on the Chehalis River

Puget Sound The plight of the Southern Resident Killer Whales has resulted in a call for extensive hatchery production for chinook.

Current hatchery production has fueled harbor seal predation throughout Puget Sound. This dovetails with suspension of Washington’s Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG) criteria meant to carefully manage hatchery production. Also, steelhead management reform is stalling out as WDFW slows efforts to designate wild steelhead management areas.

New private aqua-culture plans could bring pen-raised steelhead into marine waters, and on to land-based farms.

Legislative efforts to privatize state hatcheries would make matters even worse.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Pursue ESA Petition for summer steelhead in Puget Sound as a separate and distinct species 2. Skagit River Fisheries Plan a. Public Records Request – WDFW on Tribal Reports b. FOIA to NOAA for Tribal Reports and Co-managers’ report to NOAA c. Assessment of migration and harvest 3. Watch-dog WDFW Implementation of Hatchery Policy (C-3619) a. Influence WA Commission review of hatchery science review b. Investigate Co-management involvement of the tribes c. Continue to disseminate HSRG Science Letter and file reconsideration petition 4. Orca Task Force Recommendations and Implementation 5. Oppose WA Legislative Efforts to privatize hatcheries a. Alaska-style private hatcheries 6. Support fight against Private Aqua-culture proposals to raise steelhead

British Columbia British Columbia is losing its steelhead – primarily as by-catch in commercial fisheries by Tribes and non-tribal Commercial fishers. This loss is moving south to north and will not stop under current management.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Establish The Conservation Angler as a registered charitable entity in BC 2. Coordinate with BC partner’s legal challenge to DFO salmon harvest fisheries imperiling survival of Thompson/Chilcoltin steelhead; Dean River – hatchery chum a. Secure a meeting with Jimmy Pattison b. Investigate ownership and management of Snootli Creek Hatchery i. Research the value of the fish, fishery and the jobs c. Investigate if commercial and tribal interception is damaging steelhead and chinook runs d. Conduct analysis to ascertain if sport fisheries for steelhead, chinook are clean

Scientific Advancement The Conservation Angler has a wealth of expertise within its staff, contractors and scientific advisors. 2020 will provide multiple opportunities for TCA to present well-grounded scientific comments, evaluations and recommendations on multiple investigations underway by managing entities.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Comment on and advance EPA CWR Plan a. Implement on Columbia River b. Implement on Umpqua / Rogue / OR Coastal Rivers 2. Climate Change Measures to ensure management regimes are designed to protect and enhance life history diversity of all indigenous species of cold-water fish a. Do hatchery practices provide any climate change resiliency? b. Do hatchery practices have a much bigger climate change footprint? c. Must have intensive monitoring program to ensure management regimes are not shorting the resiliency and adaptive capacity of wild / indigenous / native fish and wildlife 3. Send McMillan’s Lewis & Clark and Western WA steelhead research to NOAA for 5-Year Status Review Process

Conservation Opportunities The Conservation Angler needs space in our workplan to act when other conservation advocacy opens doors and space to advance our principle advocacy focus on wild fish to gain footholds within bold action by others.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Follow Up Tribal Call to remove lower three Columbia River Dams a. Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day 2. TCA call for removal of John Day Dam, Willamette and Rogue Dams a. Set a scientific reason for it and economic arguments when all costs are factored 3. Take action to sustain momentum from Patagonia film “Artifishal” a. Set a gathering of wild fish advocates to chart a course b. Develop an action plan to advance public understanding of risks of hatchery and aqua-culture

Opportunity Fund Actions The Conservation Angler is in the position to engage in some ground-breaking efforts that will be necessary to bring the next generation of wild advocates to the fore, as well as a particularly unique and potentially lucrative funding source based on our possession of the principle research material.

Tasks and Actions: 1. Securing the Next Generation of Wild Fish Advocates c. The average age of many current wild fish advocacy group staff is high d. New advocates must be identified, cultivated and mentored to take the reigns e. Must secure three-to-five-year funding to provide seeds allowing the transition to occur 2. Quietly investigate the possibility of organizational consolidation within the limited extent of regional, local advocacy groups which share our mission and tactical orientation a. Develop a list of organizations b. Draft a list of pros and cons that exist with each potential merger 3. Investigate bio-medical case for studying arterial sclerosis that exists within and is a survivable event for wild steelhead, for which TCA/KSP has the genetic materials (UC Davis) a. Intellectual property acknowledgement form drafted (IP Attorney reference) b. Intro meetings with technical contacts: (OHSU, Legacy Health, BioPharma contacts) c. Brainstorm on specific investment partners with sectors (US VC, Foreign)

The Conservation Angler – 2021 Prospective Workplan The Conservation Angler will forge ahead on these 2021 objectives.

Board and Organization TCA embarked on a strategic capacity building plan in early 2020 to achieve the following priority objectives within 12 months: ✓ Professionalize finance and accounting. ✓ Professional communication and dialogue are improved and coordinated to help achieve advocacy and development objectives. ✓ Complete registration, mission build-out, and establish platform for engagement for individuals and companies in Wild Steelhead Foundation ✓ -Hire Staff Scientist in 1st Q 2021 ✓ Secure legislative representation in WA ✓ Strong engagement with and among Board members ✓ Acquire necessary hardware and communications software for virtual work Kamchatka Steelhead Project (KSP) The KSP is TCA’s flagship program. With program expansion on tap for 2021, TCA and our partners must ensure our execution is effective and, with COVID precautions still a factor – nimble. Priority objectives include: 1.

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Secure contract with Oblukovina outfitter & execute exploratory expedition.

Execute TCA-NOAA KSP MOU and select NOAA Cooperating Biologist for 2021.

Develop and implement health and safety protocols and plans for 2021 Camps.

Be prepared to launch and execute Anti-Poaching Plan 2.0 if forced to cancel.

Set up banking systems with TFS to ease payments and transfers.

Ensure scientific research papers are organized and available on TCA website.

Ensure KSP-related scientific work is useful and influential across the Pacific.

Columbia River Fishery management on the Columbia River is a management nightmare with 3 states and 7 Native American Sovereigns. It is also home to the most salmon and steelhead populations in the lower 48. And nowhere is the need greater for harvest and hatchery reform to protect wild populations. Within this complex situation, TCA has made notable progress. Priority objectives include: 1. Securing Cold Water Refugia designation on up to seven WA rivers.

2. Test and revise Cold Water Refugia rule effectiveness at OR sites.

3. Ensure OR and WA start with conservation measures as Columbia River Fisheries Reform (CRFR) administrative policy moves towards concurrence.

TCA will lead with: a. CWR designation in WA b. Administrative and political challenge to WA Policy C-3620 c. Influence OR Commission Action through Commissioner advocacy d. Revise or oppose CRFR Enhancement Fee at the OR Legislature e. Push for Tribal selective fisheries in Zone 6 as well as more observations Washington TCA has long been involved in WA fish management. We will continue to increase our presence and work – particularly in Puget Sound and Western WA. Our priority objectives include: 1. Puget Sound Steelhead – Summer Steelhead ESA Listing Petition 2. Western WA ESA Petitions for steelhead (includes the Olympic Peninsula) 3. Seek science-based Hatchery Management Policy Reform by shaping final WA Commission Policy C-3619 a. TCA must be prepared to seek administrative and legal action here 4. Secure sport fishing regulatory reform for steelhead in Western Washington, Olympic Peninsula, and the Columbia River 5. Help push for dam removal on the Similkameen River in north-central WA Oregon TCA has become deeply involved in OR fish management. We will continue to deepen our presence and work – particularly in the Oregon Coast and MidColumbia River region. Our priority objectives include:

1. Advance North Umpqua Wild Fish Management Zone a. TCA will lead political and administrative advocacy to ensure that OR considers the opportunity presented by the fires to focus on wild fish 1. Seek Statewide reform of Summer and Winter Steelhead Regulations a. Revised regulations on OR Coast, Mid-Columbia & Snake River zones b. Central & Eastern OR Angling Regulation Review and reform to protect wild steelhead spawning areas in late winter and early spring.

2. Continue Willamette River wild fish advocacy. a. End Summer Steelhead hatchery production b. Mitigation Reform – re-direct hatchery funding to habitat restoration and fish passage at existing Willamette Valley Project sites 3. John Day River Working Group – protect instream flows to support wild summer steelhead and seek specific sport fishing regulatory reforms 4. Ensure TCA supports all efforts to secure dam removal or voluntary fish passage at existing dams or fish passage barriers. a. fish passage at Wallowa Dam in NE Oregon b. fish passage over Bowman Dam on the Crooked River Idaho TCA has established itself as a wild fish advocate in Idaho and we will continue to pursue meaningful if not daunting reforms of the status quo for hatchery and fishery management. Our priority objectives will include: 1.

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Join in a critical review of the recent collaborative work group report.

Draft and file a B-run Steelhead ESA Petition to NOAA with partners.

Pursue litigation of NOAA’s HGMP for steelhead/salmon hatchery practices.

Possibly intervene in Hells Canyon Dam relicensing with FERC.

California 1. Advocacy on the Klamath Restoration Plan to prioritize wild fish recolonization efforts and not invest in continued CA & or hatchery production.

2. Legal and administrative advocacy to push California to reform sport fisheries and hatcheries to protect ESA-listed wild steelhead with NOAA authorization.

British Columbia 1. Secure organizational registration as BC charity 3.

Thompson River – explore conservation initiative with local advocates 4.

Dean River – address commercial by-catch in hatchery-focused seine fishery Legislative and Congressional TCA has developed a successful advocacy presence with the Oregon Legislature focused on agency spending. To be effective in the Columbia River and in Puget Sound, TCA needs to expand our advocacy in Washington State, and if possible, in Washington DC. Our Priority Objectives include: 1. In Oregon, TCA will a. Monitor COVID-19 Pandemic impacts to Natural Resource Budgets b. Ensure there is no rush to rebuild hatchery infrastructure without a thorough evaluation and assessment. c. Seek Beaver Management Reforms that enhance the watershed benefits of Oregon’s State Animal. d. Seek to confirm conservation-oriented F&W Commission Appointments 2. In Washington, TCA will (if we retain contract lobby expertise) a. Monitor COVID-19 Pandemic impacts to Natural Resource Budgets. b. Curb appetite for new hatcheries pretending to protect Orca whales. c. Seek to confirm conservation-oriented F&W Commission Appointments.

3. In Washington DC, TCA will: a. Establish regular correspondence with regional congressional members to communicate TCA’s overall conservation mission b. Develop a White Paper on Mitigation Reform and Hatchery Spending c. Ensure Federal oversight secures compliance with Federal law and Guidance for Fish Marking & Tagging, Fishery Observation & Monitoring Requirements, and work for accountability for this federal rule. d. Review Federal Energy Regulatory Commission documents for nonfederal dams within the range of anadromous fish. i. Examine terms of hydropower reform agreements. ii. Evaluate whether there is an adequate decommissioning charge assessed to all other dams.

Osprey Journal The Osprey Journal has successfully transitioned from a FFI publication to an independent entity. TCA has led the transition editorially, fiscally, and operationally by applying significant resources - which will continue to deliver content, increased media presence and sound financial management. TCA’s Priority Objectives will include: 1.

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Foster an active and engaged Editorial and Management committee Ensure sound fiscal footing and a sustainable growth plan increased distribution of Journal editions among partners and public improve digital presence for Journal and specific articles to increase access.

Sustain the quality of the Osprey Journal’s scientific and policy content.

Unexpected Conservation Opportunities TCA reserves some of its capacity to address conservation emergencies or unexpected opportunities that arise over the course of any given year. The recent Snake River Dam Proposal from Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is a perfect example of this and will affect our workplan during 2021 and beyond. TCA has joined a growing coalition that is extremely concerned with the implications of the proposal as written though we support some of the elements of the proposal.

The Conservation Angler Pete Soverel, President David Moskowitz, Executive Director January 2021