As natural resource co-managers, the Point No Point Treaty Council (PNPTC) has worked with its member tribes, other treaty tribes and the State of Washington for decades to manage fisheries and hatcheries in a manner that considers the needs of both people and fish, while ensuring that harvest management plans and fisheries are consistent with salmon protection and recovery efforts.

A commitment to habitat protection and restoration is also essential for success in restoring salmon populations to healthy levels. In addition to salmon fisheries management activities, the Treaty Council is also involved in co-management of halibut, rockfish, and herring resources, including participation in the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) and the development of treaty tribal halibut fishery management plans.

Jamestown fisherman in Dungeness Bay

The Treaty Council’s finfish management and enhancement staff works together as part of an integrated fisheries management program that addresses enhancement planning, salmon recovery and habitat protection/restoration. The tribes believe cooperative fisheries management can work successfully to achieve a common goal of protecting, restoring and enhancing the productivity, abundance and diversity of finfish and their ecosystems.

The Treaty Council focuses on several aspects of fisheries management vital to upholding treaty rights:

Fisheries Policy and Technical Support:

The Treaty Council provides policy and technical support to its member tribes during fishery management planning processes, including the Pacific Salmon Commission, Pacific Management Council and “North of Falcon” fishery management forums. Treaty Council staff also supports regional fisheries management processes by serving on technical committees and performing technical work such as developing abundance forecasts, fishery model inputs, fish stock assessments and management options for Puget Sound fisheries.

Harvest Regulation:

The Treaty Council issues pre-season and in-season/emergency regulations for the In-Common Harvest Areas (specifying allowed gear, management periods and fishing schedules). Additionally, the Treaty Council reviews the regulations of other non-member tribes for consistency with PNPTC regulations to ensure management coordination within the In-Common Harvest Areas.

Harvest Monitoring/Catch Accounting:
The Treaty Council coordinates the efforts of the member tribes who monitor harvest rates and collect, maintain and distribute the harvest information necessary to accurately management tribal resources. The Treaty Council also coordinates and ensures the compatibility of tribal catch reporting systems, as well as reporting protocols and accuracy standards.

Habitat Protection:

The Treaty Council promotes and conducts research, inventories and activities that contribute to the long-term protection and restoration of functional habitat within the Point No Point Treaty Area. The habitat program provides technical services in support of the member tribes’ habitat and natural resource programs.

Resource Recovery:

The Treaty Council ensures that the tribes address the federal Endangered Species Act and salmon recovery issues, and supports the tribes in their decisions and involvement with these issues. For example, Treaty Council staff was directly involved in developing the Hood Canal Summer Chum and Puget Sound Chinook Plans.

Hatcheries:

The Treaty Council ensures that its member tribes’ hatchery-related interests are met by participating in local (treaty area) and regional (Puget Sound) hatchery planning actions involving other tribes, Washington State, the federal government and others.

In the course of developing management strategies and regulating fisheries within the In-Common Harvest Areas, the Treaty Council consults with member tribe’s fishery managers and biologists, tribal fish committees and tribal councils, as well as all other tribal, state, federal and international-related entities.

The Treaty Council also participates in regional meetings, including mid-Hood Canal Chinook salmon recovery planning, implementing the Hood Canal Summer Chum and Hood Canal and Puget Sound Salmon Management, and the Pacific Salmon Treaty process with British Columbia and Alaska.

Port Gamble technicians pull in a beach seine net for a test fishery

Hatchery Manager, Tim Seachord adding chum salmon eggs

Fishery Manager Paul McClollum assisting in the PG Coho transfer project

Coho fry

Point No Point Treaty Council Technician, Julianna Sullivan

The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe is conducting a juvenile salmon/forage fish study in mid-Hood Canal and Admiralty Inlet. One tool the tribe will use to study the marine life is beach seining - dragging a net into shore, then gathering and counting all the nearshore animals the net gathers. A wide variety of fish were found during this set in May 2011, including perch, gunnels, tubesnout fish, juvenile salmon, sculpin, flatfish and even a Dungeness crab.

Katie Eiring, PG Technician Beach seining in Hood Canal

Pictures Tiffany Royal NWIFC