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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 49 / Tuesday, March 16, 2021 / Notices
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Spring Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan assumes the average harvest rate of naturally produced spring-run Chinook salmon is 15 percent ODFW, 2007. The Petitioner does not specifically assert that the harvest rates of SONCC springrun Chinook are too high.
The Petitioner additionally summarizes the freshwater angling regulations put in place in 2008 to protect spring-run Chinook salmon from direct harvest in the Rogue River. The Petitioner does not provide an explanation for why freshwater angling regulations may be inadequate. ODFW
2019 states that from January through May, anglers may only keep adipose finclipped hatchery spring-run Chinook Salmon on the Rogue River. Wild harvest opens at various sections of the Rogue River after the early-run fish have passed. ODFW also states that the fishery does not open to wild harvest upstream of Dodge Bridge, where earlyrun fish occupy deep pools during the spring and summer. ODFW 2019
found that following implementation of the freshwater angling regulations, there were immediate reductions in freshwater harvest and increased spawner escapement 20082011. As a result, adult returns of naturally produced spring-run Chinook salmon began to improve in 2012. The Petitioner notes that while the estimated harvest rates of natural spring-run Chinook salmon are low, spring-run Chinook salmon are not meeting the escapement goal and homozygous spring-run Chinook salmon are likely declining.
Based on information provided by the Petitioner, as well as information readily available in our files, we find that there is inadequate information for a reasonable person to determine if overutilization poses a threat to the continued existence of SONCC springrun Chinook salmon.
Disease or Predation The Petitioner asserts that disease poses a risk to naturally produced spring-run Chinook in the Rogue River.
ODFW 2019 found that under certain conditions disease, primarily caused by the bacterium Flexibacter columnaris, can spread quickly in Rogue River Chinook salmon. Downstream of Gold Ray Dam, extensive mortalities of adults were documented in 1977, 1987, 1992, and 1994 due to disease ODFW, 2007.
Estimates of mortality rates during those years ranged between 28 percent and 70
percent of the spring-run Chinook salmon that entered the Rogue River ODFW, 2007. The Petitioner cites the Rogue Spring Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan that states that
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disease is known to be a primary factor that affects the abundance of spring-run Chinook salmon ODFW, 2007. The Rogue Spring Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan also notes that spring-run Chinook salmon in the Rogue River are exposed annually to high water temperatures that increase the mortality rates of infected juvenile Chinook salmon ODFW, 2007. The Petitioner notes that ODFW, the Oregon Water Resources Department, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now release water from the Lost Creek Reservoir to minimize pre-spawning mortality of adult Chinook salmon due to disease ODFW, 2019. The Rogue Spring Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan Comprehensive Assessment and Update ODFW, 2019 states that during the 20132015 drought, careful reservoir management resulted in no significant loss of fish due to disease on the Rogue.
The Petitioner also asserts that hatchery produced coho salmon and steelhead prey upon natural origin spring-run Chinook salmon fry. Surveys conducted during 197981 indicated that both of these species prey upon the fry of spring-run Chinook salmon ODFW, 2007. The Petitioner cites estimations made by Evenson et al.
1981 that hatchery origin steelhead consume between 134,000 to 218,000
spring-run Chinook salmon fry and that hatchery origin coho salmon are estimated to consume between 29,000 to 57,000 spring-run Chinook salmon fry.
In the Rogue Spring Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan, ODFW reported that if these estimates are accurate, hatchery origin salmonids consume 37 percent of the natural origin spring-run Chinook salmon fry produced annually in the Rogue River ODFW, 2007. ODFW
2007 noted that the rate of predation by juvenile steelhead and coho salmon from Cole M. Rivers Hatchery is highly dependent on the duration of time that hatchery fish reside in the river, and on the proportion of the release groups that fail to migrate downstream. ODFW
2007 also found that predation is likely not a primary factor contributing to the decline of spring-run Chinook salmon in the Rogue River.
Based on information provided by the Petitioner, as well as information readily available in our files, we find that there is inadequate information for a reasonable person to determine if disease or predation pose a threat to the continued existence of SONCC springrun Chinook salmon.
Inadequacy of Existing Regulatory Mechanisms The Petitioner asserts that existing federal and state regulatory mechanisms
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are not sufficient to protect and recover SONCC spring-run Chinook salmon and their habitat. The Petitioner states that the Oregon Native Fish Conservation Policy, The Rogue Spring Chinook Salmon Conservation Plan, and the Coles M. Rivers Hatchery and Genetic Management Plan do not provide safeguards to stabilize or reverse increases in Chinook salmon heterozygous for run timing. The Petitioner asserts that insufficient measures have been taken to prevent the interbreeding between naturally produced spring-run Chinook salmon and hatchery produced spring-run Chinook salmon from the Cole M. Rivers Hatchery. The Petitioner further asserts that the Rogue Fall Chinook Conservation Plan ODFW, 2007 does not adequately address the risks of interbreeding with spring-run fish as a result of artificially augmented summer flows ODFW, 2013.
The Petitioner notes that spring-run Chinook salmon on the Rogue River are not listed as threatened or endangered under the Oregon state Endangered Species Act. The Petitioner asserts that while the Rogue Spring Chinook Species Management Unit/SONCC ESU
is on the Oregon Sensitive Species List, the designation does not provide regulatory protection for SONCC
Chinook salmon.
Consistent with the petition received to list an ESU of Oregon Coast springrun Chinook salmon under the ESA, the Petitioner here asserts that the Oregon Forest Practices Act and Forest Practice Rules do not provide adequate habitat protections for spring-run Chinook salmon. For reasons previously described in the 90-day finding for that petition 85 FR 20476; April 13, 2020
the petitioner asserts that it is unlikely that the Oregon Forest Practices Act adequately protects the habitat of spring-run Chinook salmon in the Rogue River.
NMFS most recent SONCC coho salmon status review NMFS 2016
evaluated the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms over an area in large part co-extensive with the range of SONCC spring-run Chinook salmon and concluded that the Oregon Forest Practices Act does not provide adequate protection for SONCC coho salmon.
NMFS 2016 noted that particular areas of concern include: 1 Whether the widths of riparian management areas RMAs are sufficient to fully protect riparian functions and stream habitats;
2 whether operations allowed within RMAs will degrade stream habitats; 3
operations on high-risk landslide sites;
and 4 watershed-scale effects. NMFS
2016 similarly expressed concerns
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