The Select Area Fisheries Evaluation (SAFE) Project was initiated and funded by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) in 1993, following recommendations of the Northwest Power Planning Council to investigate the potential for terminal fisheries on the lower Columbia River. A primary goal of the project was to develop efficient terminal fishery harvest opportunities on salmon in the Lower Columbia while minimizing impacts to non-target stocks, particularly the upriver stocks under federal protection by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In the years since 1993, extensive evaluation of sites, stocks, and rearing and release methods resulted in the current SAFE production and fishery projects at four sites: Youngs Bay, Blind Slough and Tongue Point in Oregon, and Deep River in Washington. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is the SAFE project co-sponsor managing the Washington program sited at Deep River while the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and Clatsop County Fisheries (CCF) are co-managers of the Oregon SAFE program sites. The project was restructured in 2007 to focus on maximizing the production, fishery and conservation benefits of the programs at the established release sites and was renamed Select Area Fisheries Enhancement to reflect that change.

The FFY 2025 SAFE project budget for the three project sponsors combined was $2,340,766 and the WDFW portion (23%) was $538,033. Fish production costs comprised about 75% the WDFW budget, followed by efforts to evaluate and report on project objectives, while lesser amounts are spent to manage and monitor the commercial fisheries and to administer the project. Hatchery reform actions designated by NOAA Fisheries to promote conservation and recovery of ESA-listed salmon resulted in a new stock source for the WDFW SAFE fish production program starting in 2018, changing from early stock Coho (final release in May of 2017) to late stock Coho (released 2018-2025).

The FFY 2026 contract year initiates a major change in the scope of the WDFW SAFE program at Deep River; principally the elimination of fish production and releases from the Deep River net pens. The final release of late stock Coho salmon was completed in late April 2025.  Releases of Spring Chinook from Deep River net pens (under Washington State and Mitchell Act funding) was also discontinued, with the final cohort (brood year 2023) being released in May 2024. Since the ultimate goal of that production is adult harvest, sampling and assessment of the abundance and stock composition of the catch during the fall and spring fisheries in Deep River is a primary contract objective in FFY 2026.

Evaluation of the numbers of SAFE-origin adults that escaped fisheries and are found in local Washington tributaries, and the numbers of Deep River-origin adults caught in Deep River versus other fisheries and hatchery facilities remain ongoing objectives for this contract. Efforts toward development of project reports in concert with ODFW and CCF staff will also remain an important work element in FYY 2026. Additional coordination with ODFW and CCF staff will continue to occur during bi-monthly meetings and other meetings and communications as needed to achieve cohesive management of production, fisheries, and conservation goals of the overall SAFE project. Project administration activities for WDFW will also include completing quarterly status reports for BPA using their online project management application, CBFish.org.