NOAA Fisheries is proposing revision to the regulations that implement the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Council) Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to remove the Snohomish River coho rebuilding plan as the stock has now been rebuilt and is no longer considered overfished.
Revising the regulations that implement the Salmon FMP to remove the Snohomish River coho salmon rebuilding plan from regulation will avoid confusion should NOAA Fisheries make a future determination that the Snohomish River coho salmon stock is overfished again. Leaving the current rebuilding plan in regulation could be misperceived as being the default rebuilding plan for Snohomish River coho salmon, which was not the intention of the Council nor of NMFS. Therefore, it is best practice to remove the existing Snohomish River coho salmon rebuilding plan from regulation. This change is important to ensure that regulations are correct and current.
NOAA Fisheries concurrently announces a 15-day comment period for this proposed rule on this proposal. Please submit all electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and type NMFS-2023-0138 in the Search box. Click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments. Comments sent by any other method, to any other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, may not be considered by NMFS. For the specific details associated with this proposed rule, please visit our website.
For more information, contact
Shannon Penna, Anadromous Harvest Management, at (562) 980-4239.
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