Fisheries Off West Coast States: West Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 23 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan

Amendment 23 will revise the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan to replace the current harvest control rule (HCR) for Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) coho salmon with two HCRs. The first will limit total fishery exploitation rates (ERs) on each of five individual representative population units within the SONCC coho salmon Evolutionarily Species Unit to 15 percent annually, except for the Trinity River population (represented by the Upper Trinity River, Lower Trinity River, and South Fork Trinity River populations). The second HCR will limit the total ER on the Trinity River population unit to 16 percent. Both HCRs account for all ocean and inland sources of fishery mortality annually and include landed and non-landed mortality of age-3 adult SONCC coho salmon.

The comment period on Amendment 23 closed on October 17, 2022. The comment period on the draft EA closed on October 3, 2022.