The Bonneville Power Administration initiated the Select Area Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Project in 1993 at the recommendation of the Northwest Power Planning Council to investigate the potential for terminal fisheries on the lower Columbia River.  This project built on the success of the concept demonstrated in Youngs Bay which was started by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) in the early 1960s and enhanced by a partnership with Clatsop County beginning in the mid-1970s.  BPA first came on as a funding partner in the mid-1980s.  Terminal fisheries were developed as a means to increase recreational and commercial harvest of hatchery fish while providing greater protection for weak stocks of salmon and steelhead including those protected under the Endangered Species Act.  The project has expanded to the four current Select Area fishing sites: Youngs Bay, Blind Slough and Tongue Point in Oregon and Deep River in Washington.  Each site provides both recreational and commercial fishing opportunities, although season structure and target species differ with current management goals and production strategies.  Funding for the project comes from a patchwork of sources including the States of Oregon and Washington, Clatsop County, NOAA (Mitchell Act), fisher/fish processor contributions, and the BPA.  In 2007, the focus of the program evolved from research and evaluation, having determined successful sites and rearing strategies, into a third phase intended to make best use of production and fisheries, and was therefore renamed  Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (still utilizing the acronym SAFE) for the FY 2007-09 funding proposal to BPA.  This new focus continues with the FY11 funding cycle.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Clatsop County Fisheries are co-sponsors of the SAFE Project.  The ODFW will receive $923,237 of the $1,891,125 FY 2011 BPA budget for the project, of which 72% of the funds are used for fish production and fish marking.  The majority of remainder of ODFW’s budget is used to monitor and evaluate the project goals (22%) and manage the commercial and recreational fisheries (5%).  Only 1% of the funds are allocated to project administration.

In FY2011, ODFW will be able to achieve the stated project goals to stabilize production levels of hatchery fish and expand monitoring of the effects of project releases and fisheries.  We will be able to expand our current monitoring and management programs with increased coordination with other projects (including the BPA-funded CWT project and ODFW population monitoring projects conducting surveys of local spawning grounds) and by reallocating dollars from a technician position to partially fund a biologist.  Starting with this contract, the project will rely on sampling data collected by other on-going projects to perform analyses necessary to evaluate and monitor the effects of the SAFE project.  We feel that this approach is more cost-effective, reduces duplicity of effort, and will improve the quality of monitoring efforts.  

With this budget and SOW ODFW will produce about 950,000 2010 brood spring Chinook at Gnat Creek Hatchery for transfer to the CCF netpens for acclimation and release in 2012.  Additionally, work to rebuild and stabilize the coho program at Klaskanine Hatchery will continue.  Targeted smolt release goal is 600,000 2010 brood coho for the current fiscal year.  Approximately 500,000 2009 brood coho will be late-reared and released from Klaskanine Hatchery during the fiscal year.  ODFW will also mark and coded-wire tag the netpen Select Area Bright (SAB) fall Chinook in Youngs Bay and Mitchell Act-funded coho which are acclimated at Tongue Point. Production of SAB fall Chinook has been shifted to CEDC and this SOW includes tasks to continue coordination of broodstock collection between Klaskanine Hatchery staff and CCF staff.  Work will continue to evaluate the relocation of the spring Chinook releases within the Tongue Point site and assess the feasibility of reinstating the spring commercial fishery at this site.  We also intend to conduct presence/absence test fishing in the waters near Blind Slough (Grant Slough) to collect data to help evaluate the potential for fishery site expansion in the spring and fall seasons.  These tasks are high priority and are included in the project goal of maximizing the fishing opportunities.  We will continue to evaluate the ability to adaptively manage the winter, spring, and summer fisheries to maintain high harvest rates on project fish while minimizing impacts to non-local stocks.  The forecasting model used to estimate the return of project spring Chinook will be refined as additional data becomes available.