Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 635 - DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE › Division 500 - FISH MANAGEMENT PLANS › Section 635-500-6500 - Implementing the Oregon Coast Coho Conservation Plan for the State of Oregon

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
(1) Policy. The
			 Oregon Coast Coho Conservation Plan for the State of Oregon (Coast Coho Plan)
			 (State of Oregon 2007, available at Department offices) implements the State's
			 strategy for protecting and enhancing Oregon coastal coho populations, in
			 cooperation with other federal and local partners, including Oregon Plan
			 natural resource agencies and NOAA Fisheries. This rule describes the
			 Commission's contribution toward this collective effort and directs the
			 Department's implementation of the Coast Coho Plan. The Coast Coho Plan is
			 based on the following general premise: habitat management and improvement is
			 the key to protecting and enhancing coastal coho; much of the most important
			 coho habitat is on private land; habitat improvement on private land is most
			 likely to occur through incentive-based cooperative partnerships with
			 landowners; and fourth, and the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds provides
			 the best vehicle for securing these partnerships and implementing habitat
			 improvements. This rule describes the Department's role in implementing the
			 Coast Coho Plan consistent with the Department's statutory authorities and the
			 Native Fish Conservation Policy (OAR
			 635-007-0502 thru
			 635-007-0505). The rule is not
			 intended to be a rigid recipe but rather to identify the range of opportunities
			 the Department should pursue and how the effectiveness of those opportunities
			 should be evaluated, following the template first established in the Native
			 Fish Conservation Policy.
(2)
			 Description of Species Management Unit and Populations. The Species Management
			 Unit (SMU) for Oregon Coast coho is the Oregon Coast Coho Evolutionarily
			 Significant Unit (ESU) that is comprised of component populations, variously
			 defined as independent, potentially independent, and dependent, as described by
			 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Oregon/Northern
			 California Technical Recovery Team (TRT) reported in Lawson, et al. 2005. The
			 Department adopts the definitions of coho populations proposed by the NOAA TRT.
			 These include all historical coho streams flowing directly into the Pacific
			 Ocean from, and inclusive of, the Necanicum River south to, and inclusive of,
			 the Sixes River. To avoid confusion and because the SMU is the same as the
			 federal ESU designation, the term ESU will be used to designate the SMU for
			 Oregon Coast coho.
(3) Desired
			 Status. The desired status goal is to improve coho habitat and coho populations
			 across the Oregon Coast coho ESU so that:
(a)
			 All independent populations perform at a level substantially above the level
			 classified as sustainable, based on the Biological Recovery Criteria for the
			 Oregon Coast Coho Salmon ESU, as described at the time of this rule's adoption
			 by the NOAA Oregon/Northern California TRT; and
(b) All dependent populations have habitat
			 that is capable of supporting coho salmon at productive levels, especially
			 during periods of medium or high marine survival, as defined by the Pacific
			 Fishery Management Council's (PFMC) Amendment 13 of the Salmon Fishery
			 Management Plan;
(c) This desired
			 status goal for the ESU shall be achieved when all independent and potentially
			 independent coho populations pass all of the measurable criteria for
			 independent and potentially independent populations and the aggregate of
			 dependent populations within each bio-geographic stratum of the ESU pass both
			 of the measurable criteria for dependent populations. In general, this means
			 the average number of naturally produced coho spawners in the ESU is unlikely
			 to drop below 100,000 fish even when marine survival is as poor as experienced
			 during the early and mid 1990s when natural spawners averaged approximately
			 50,000 fish;
(d) The six measurable
			 criteria for desired status of Oregon Coast coho independent or potentially
			 independent populations are:
(A)
			 Abundance;
(B)
			 Persistence;
(C)
			 Productivity;
(D)
			 Distribution/connectivity;
(E)
			 Diversity; and
(F)
			 Habitat.
(e) The two
			 measurable criteria for dependent populations are:
(A) Spawner trend; and
(B) Habitat condition.
(f) The above measurable criteria are defined
			 in the Metric and Evaluation Thresholds sections of each criterion in Appendix
			 2 of the Coast Coho Plan. While criterion for survival rate to each critical
			 life history stage can not yet be developed with the available information and
			 monitoring, staff shall establish a criterion for this biological attribute
			 when adequate information and monitoring is available. Secondary criteria, such
			 as age structure, are not incorporated into desired status criteria, but may be
			 developed in the future to assess the effectiveness of specific management
			 actions.