The fish that will be listed on March 23 will be the Puget Sound Chinook. That does include the Nooksack River. However, since the Nooksack is almost an entirely hatchery run, I doubt there will be much of an effect on that fishery.
Tons of other changes will be made, though. A fish listed as "endangered" is automatically off limits. Any activity that "takes" an endangered animal is immediately illegal upon listing.
The Puget Sound chinook will be listed as "threatened", and for marine species under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service, they are treated differently. First off, listing them does not have an immediate effect on their take. It will only become illegal after the NMFS passes so-called "4(d)" rules, which will outline the specific protections that will be afforded to the listed animal.
This is a huge difference. Things like the State's Salmon Recovery Plan can be considered when passing 4(d) rules. This means that if the state is perceived as doing a lot to protect the salmon, then the federal restrictions will be less stringent. If the state doesn't do anything to protect the salmon, then they can be treated as endangered by the NMFS, or anywhere in between endangered and threatened, and NMFS will dictate how we conduct ourselves.
This is a biggy, because if the restrictions are low due to state regulation, then more development and resource utilization, and fishing, can take place, in a much more flexible system. The state, of course, has an interest in protecting the salmon, and also has an interest in promoting growth and the economy. The feds, on the other hand, have only the fish in mind. I don't find that as a bad deal, since I mainly have the fish in mind, too, but some farmers and developers better figure out how it works before they continute stonewalling recovery efforts that are before our state legislature right now.
They think they're doing themselves a favor by dumping on all the water use laws that are being debated in our congress right now, but if they succeed in dumping them all, then what they have truly succeeded in doing is inviting the NMFS to regulate development and farming for us. Bad deal for them.
Anyway, to make a short story even longer, there will changes in how people living on Puget Sound live. Sensitive areas will probably have restrictions on washing your car or watering your lawn. Any growth in some areas will be flat out banned. Forest practices will be forced to change, as will all other road building and development practices.
This is a big wake up call for the metropolitan Seattle area, and I hope people realize that they are about to be lying in the bed they have made over the last thirty years.
On a lighter note, check out the WDFW web page, news releases. Looks like we're going to have a Buoy 10 fishery this year, and a coastal fishery, maybe even a Neah Bay fishery. The coastal streams are supposed to have an even better run of silvers this year than last, if you can believe that.
Fish on....
Todd.