Lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus) populations along the West Coast of North America have recovered from overfishing, but the status of genetically distinct lingcod in Puget Sound, Washington is less clear. This project will use small-scale lingcod releases to learn about the benefits and risks of using stock enhancement as a tool to help rebuild marine fish populations. We have conducted experiments to improve rearing methods, improve release methods, and learn about lingcod life history, and are proceeding with a before-after-control-impact study that will quantify ecological impacts on wild fishes. WDFW collaborates on this project by conducting creel surveys. This project has been or is currently supported by the Science Consortium for Ocean Replenishment, the Puget Sound Recreational Fisheries Enhancement Fund, and NOAA Aquaculture. Previous or present partners include the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, the Nisqually Tribe, WDFW, and the Washington SCUBA Alliance. Data from mobile Vemco VR28 acoustic hydrophone array towed behind a boat in South Puget Sound. Contains detections of hatchery lingcod.

We have been using and continue to use acoustic telemetry methods to monitor the movement behavior and define habitat use of groundfish species in and out of Puget Sound waters. Detections of individual fishes has been collected at small and large scales over short and long term periods. We have data on sixgill and sevengill sharks, spiny dogfish, lingcod, copper, quillback, yellowtail and black rockfish, and spotted ratfish. These data are being used to describe the spatio-temporal patterns of behaviors expressed by top predators and other important members of the groundfish community in Puget Sound and along the West Coast. We intend for this information to inform the strength of inter- and intra-specific interactions quantified by ecosystem-scale models as well as the development of models used to determine the efficacy of spatial management strategies such as Marine Protected Areas. This has been a research topic since 2003, and will continue with work on listed species such as yelloweye and canary rockfish. Acoustic telemetry data for lingcod.

NOAA Fisheries is a cooperator with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lummi, Nooksack, and Stillaguamish Tribes in a 10-year program to rebuild the South Fork Nooksack River spring Chinook and Stillaguamish River fall Chinook stocks through a captive broodstock program. The fork length to the nearest mm and weight to the nearest gram of fish is recorded on an approximately annual basis.

NOAA Fisheries is a cooperator with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lummi, Nooksack, and Stillaguamish Tribes in a 10-year program to rebuild the South Fork Nooksack River spring Chinook and Stillaguamish River fall Chinook stocks through a captive broodstock program. The fork length to the nearest mm and weight to the nearest gram of fish is recorded on an approximately annual basis.

NOAA Fisheries is a cooperator with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lummi, Nooksack, and Stillaguamish Tribes in a 10-year program to rebuild the South Fork Nooksack River spring Chinook and Stillaguamish River fall Chinook stocks through a captive broodstock program. Information on the number of juveniles received into the program is maintained and summarized by year. The production of prespawning adults transferred to Tribal Facilities for spawning is also annually summarized.

This project has two objectives: 1. Estimate the amount of rearing habitat available to juvenile Chinook salmon currently and historically (i.e., ~1850s) throughout the Puget Sound region 2. Estimate the carrying capacity of the habitat in the region to support juvenile Chinook under current and historical conditions. Krista Bartz is the principal investigator for the project, and most of the analytical work is complete (as of May 2012). The remaining work involves completing a manuscript describing the work. Specific product for this project is a manuscript (likely the North American Journal of Fisheries Management). Audience for the project was initially intended to be NWFSC staff involved in parameterizing a Puget Sound-wide life-cycle model for Chinook salmon. Since ~2008, when that effort stalled, there has been a resurgence in interest in developing such a model. This is a one-time, stand-alone with soft deadlines in October 2012 to send the manuscript for internal review and December 2012 to send the manuscript to the journal. Estimates of changes in Chinook salmon juvenile rearing capacity in rivers and estuaries throughout Puget Sound, using pre-settlement conditions as the baseline.

Raw data from Vemco receivers that monitored the Kaneohe, Oahu nursery grounds while tagged juvenile snapper were released in 2006 (cultured) and 2007 (wild). Also included are raw temperature time series from thermographs mounted 5m above the bottom with the receiver.

Cowcod are the primary species that have influenced groundfish regulations since 2001 in California waters. More progressive management approaches have been adopted during this time, and many rockfish species, including cowcod, now appear to be rebuilding. This rebuilding has recently translated into increased cowcod catches by both recreational and commercial fishers, and the use of descending devices has become a popular method for releasing these fish with as little harm as possible. However, post-release mortality of cowcod associated with the use of these descending devices is still unclear. We have tagged __ adult individuals using acoustic telemetry methods, and analyses of these movement data are currently underway. We will also tag juvenile and sub-adult cowcod in an effort to estimate size-dependent post-release mortality and movement patterns. This will give us a better understanding of the rebuilding status of the species, and how changes in fishing regulations might affect this rebuilding.

Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits have experienced a long history of commercial fishing activity. Although much of this fishing activity no longer takes place, there remains lost and abandoned fishing gear throughout Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits. Derelict gear has the potential to impact marine fauna through entanglement and trapping. Collaborative work of federal, state and tribal agencies with local and regional non-governmental agencies, specifically the Northwest Straits Foundation, has recovered thousands of derelict nets and pots since 2002 and documented their impacts on marine fauna, many of which are of commercial and/or conservation concern. Marine fauna.

The purpose of this one-time stand-alone study is to evaluate how effective "fish-friendly" or self-regulating tide gates (SRTs) are at increasing connectivity for fish rearing in estuaries. The work was carried out in North Puget Sound, Washington Coast, and Columbia River estuaries by Correigh Greene, Jason Hall, and Eric Beamer (Skagit River System Cooperative), and compared SRTs with traditional flap gates and reference sites that were not blocked by any tide gate. Thus far, the study has produced a report for ESRP (Estuary Salmon Restoration Program), the organization that funded it. Up to two peer-reviewed papers are planned. The audience for this work includes federal and state managers, local planners, Watershed Councils, and applied ecologists. Access database of data loggers.