Mr. Edward,

The Skagit tribes have had their spring Chinook season limited by incidental take of ESA listed steelhead. Most of the steelhead they catch while fishing for springers are kelts, but they still count as ESA take. Under the Resource Management Plan (RMP) approved last April, the allowable take for treaty and non-treaty combined is increased for run forecasts greater than 6,000. So when there is a generous surplus of hatchery spring Chinook, there will be sufficient allowable take of steelhead that their Chinook season won't be curtailed. Plus they get a few days of directed fishing for steelhead, which the Upper Skagit Tribe wanted.

Steelhead conservation remains the focal point of the RMP. Both treaty and non-treaty steelhead fishing is dependent on runsizes being large enough to support the respective fisheries. If another run like the super-low return in 2009 occurs, nobody fishes for steelhead, other than the on-going test fishing.

Sg