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 four current Select Area fishing sites: Youngs Bay, Blind Slough/Knappa Slough and Tongue Point/South Channel 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 BPA.  In 2007, the focus of the program transitioned 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 FY25 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 $ 1,277,688 of the $2,340,766 FY 2025 BPA budget for the project, of which 74% of the funds are used for fish production.  The majority of remainder of ODFW’s budget is used to monitor and evaluate the project goals (18%) and manage the commercial and recreational fisheries (4%).  Only 4% of the funds are allocated to project administration and coordination.

In FY2025, 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 continue our current monitoring and management programs by means of coordination with other projects (including the BPA-funded CWT project and ODFW population monitoring projects conducting surveys of local spawning grounds) and by continuing to partially fund a biologist.  Starting in FY2011, the project has relied 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 2024 brood spring Chinook at Gnat Creek Hatchery for release into Gnat Creek and Blind Slough and transfer to the Blind Slough net pens for acclimation and release in 2026.  Targeted smolt goal is 600,000 BPA-funded 2024 brood coho for the current fiscal year with full-term rearing to occur on-site.  Approximately 600,000 2023 brood BPA-funded coho will be late-reared and released from Klaskanine Hatchery during the fiscal year.  Production of SAB fall Chinook has been shifted to ODFW and this SOW includes tasks to continue coordination of broodstock collection between Klaskanine Hatchery staff and CCF staff.  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.