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A Vision for Salmon and Steelhead: Goals to Restore Thriving Salmon and Steelhead to the Columbia River Basin
Phase 2 Report of the Columbia River Partnership Task Force of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee
The Phase 2 (Final) Report summarizes Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force (Partnership) efforts and accomplishments through September 2020. An overarching message from Partnership members is a strong sense of urgency that immediate action is needed to address salmon and steelhead declines in the Columbia River Basin. This report finalizes qualitative and quantitative goals for all salmon and steelhead, both ESA-listed and non-listed, and provides recommendations for continuing collaboration going forward to further define and implement strategies to achieve the Partnership Goals. The report serves as the Partnership’s final recommendations to the NOAA Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee.
This Partnership process has also, for the first time in the region, completed a full accounting of Columbia River salmon and steelhead numbers at the stock level from the ocean to the spawning grounds for natural and hatchery-origin fish. The Phase 2 Report includes detailed summaries of the quantitative goals for each of 27 stocks of salmon and steelhead in the basin and a description of the methodologies used to derive the goals.
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Cover of the Columbia Basin Partnership Phase 2 Report
Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator (AA) for Fisheries, along with West Coast Region leaders, accept the goals in the Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force’s Phase 2 Recommendations Report, as transmitted by MAFAC. NOAA Fisheries requested that MAFAC undertake this work, allowing this unprecedented collaboration of diverse interests from across the Basin.
MAFAC’s Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force developed an overarching long-term vision, qualitative goals, and provisional quantitative goals for recovery of all Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead. The Phase 1 Recommendations Report presents a shared purpose gained through collaboration and envisions a future where coming generations enjoy healthy and abundant salmon and steelhead runs across the Columbia Basin. This report includes detailed, preliminary summaries of the provisional quantitative goals for each stock of salmon and steelhead in the Basin and a description of the methodologies used to derive the goals (as Appendix A).
Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator (AA) for Fisheries, along with West Coast Region leaders, accept the goals in the Columbia Basin Partnership (CBP) Task Force’s Phase I Recommendations Report, as transmitted by MAFAC. NOAA Fisheries requested that MAFAC undertake this work, allowing this unprecedented collaboration of diverse interests from across the Basin.
CBP Task Force members and staff at a meeting in Hood River, OR in 2018.
MAFAC convened the Columbia Basin Partnership Task Force in 2017 to bring together diverse representatives from across the Columbia Basin to establish a common vision and goals for the Columbia Basin and its salmon and steelhead. The diverse group of parties on the Partnership includes Columbia Basin tribes; fishing, agriculture, conservation, river transportation, port, and hydropower interests; and the states of Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon. All of these parties want to ensure that healthy runs of salmon and steelhead thrive into the future.
Meeting the needs of the diverse social, cultural, and economic landscape — while leaving future generations with abundant, resilient salmon and a healthy ecosystem — will take ingenuity, innovation, and partnership.
The Partnership completed its work in September 2020 and submitted their Phase 2 report to MAFAC. MAFAC received a final presentation on the Phase 2 work at their October 2020 meeting and finalized and approved the report to be submitted to the NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator.
Right whale #3853 swimming north offshore of South Carolina on Jan. 20, 2011 with a series of fresh propeller wounds running across its back. The whale was observed 5 days previously offshore of Georgia without propeller wounds. It is unknown whether the whale survived its wounds or not, as it has not been re-sighted since. Vessel collisions are a leading cause of right whale mortality. Credit: EcoHealth Alliance (NOAA permit #594-1759).
North Atlantic right whale Catalog #3560 ‘Snow Cone’ sighted December 2, 2021 entangled and with a new calf. Photo credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission taken under NOAA permit 20556.
North Pacific right whale #87 also known as “Smudgy” interacts with a log floating on the water. There are only around 30 individuals in the eastern population, so to spot a North Pacific right whale is rare and to see one interacting with a log in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. NOAA Fisheries permit 782-1719.
Right whale #3853 swimming north offshore of South Carolina on Jan. 20, 2011 with a series of fresh propeller wounds running across its back. The whale was observed 5 days previously offshore of Georgia without propeller wounds. It is unknown whether the whale survived its wounds or not, as it has not been re-sighted since. Vessel collisions are a leading cause of right whale mortality. Credit: EcoHealth Alliance (NOAA permit #594-1759).
North Atlantic right whale Catalog #3560 ‘Snow Cone’ sighted December 2, 2021 entangled and with a new calf. Photo credit: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission taken under NOAA permit 20556.
Loggerhead turtle. Credit: T. Moore (CC0 1.0)
North Pacific right whale #87 also known as “Smudgy” interacts with a log floating on the water. There are only around 30 individuals in the eastern population, so to spot a North Pacific right whale is rare and to see one interacting with a log in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. NOAA Fisheries permit 782-1719.