RSRP Report Criticizes NMFS Over Salmon Harvest

A federally appointed science panel charged with evaluating and guiding Endangered Species Act-related salmon recovery has severely criticized the National Marine Fisheries Service over its approach to managing salmon harvest.

 

The Salmon Recovery Science Review Panel (RSRP) was convened by NMFS to oversee the work of the Technical Recovery Teams (TRTs), responsible for developing salmon-recovery plans for each listed population, or ESU. The Review Panel evaluates salmon-recovery efforts for "scientific credibility," to ensure they are based on "well accepted ecological and evolutionary principles." The Panel is made up of six highly qualified scientists, nationally recognized experts in genetics, ecology, and conservation biology. All six have participated in National Research Council activities and hold prestigious awards, fellowships, and scientific and academic leadership positions. The RSRP meets with the TRTs several times a year to review their work and make recommendations.

 

In early November, the RSRP issued a report from its August meeting that was harshly critical of the way NMFS manages the harvest of ESA-listed salmon and steelhead. The tone of the report is strikingly sharp. The panel said they were "mystified" how NMFS could justify current harvest-rates on listed ESUs. After calling it "clear" that harvest had contributed significantly to salmon declines, the panel noted that NMFS continues to permit "biologically unsustainable" harvest levels of listed salmon. They bluntly admonished NMFS to develop a more "rational policy."

Selected Quotes From the Report

° "Despite hours of presentations and numerous probing questions… we remain somewhat mystified concerning the scientific justification for current allowable harvests, especially the continuation of substantial or high allowable harvest rates on listed salmonid ESUs [populations]."

° "[NMFS] presenters were unnecessarily defensive, and at times even obfuscatory."

° "NMFS should develop a rational [harvest] policy that does not demean scientific common sense."

° "It is clear that exploitation contributed, in several cases quite significantly, to the [salmon] population declines…. Substantial harvest of listed ESUs continues to be permitted by NMFS."

° "NMFS personnel… use subjectivity and legalism, and their inability to promote a transition to terminal fisheries to justify biologically unsustainable harvest rates on several listed ESUs." [Emphasis added.]

° "It appears that harvest decisions are never connected with other factors in an overall restoration and recovery plan. … it was our view that it was this isolation that led to some counterintuitive recommendations, such as to continue the harvesting of declining populations."

° "The… models used to set allowable harvests each year need to be much more thoroughly tested and validated.”

The RSRP was appointed by NMFS itself, in order to give the public confidence that salmon-recovery management would be independently overseen by some of the country’s leading natural-resource scientists. The report these experts have released unequivocally challenges NMFS’s assertions that they are following the best available science in making harvest-management decisions.

In November 2001, Washington Trout filed a lawsuit against NMFS over its decision to approve a plan for harvesting salmon in Puget Sound (See Washington Trout Sues NMFS Over Puget Sound Salmon-Harvest Plan). The RSRP has reinforced our case that NMFS is failing to manage salmon fisheries for recovery.

"For a long time Washington Trout has been critical of the way NMFS and other agencies manage fishing," said Kurt Beardslee, Washington Trout’s Executive Director. "It’s encouraging to learn that NMFS’s own Scientific Review Panel apparently shares many of our concerns over the way ESA-listed salmon are being harvested."

For the full text of the RSRP report, along with the names and backgrounds of the panel members, click here.