Does harvest keep Idahos salmon and steelhead from recovery?
Conclusion: Harvest has not caused the decline leading to listing of wild Snake River salmon and steelhead. Idaho spring-summer chinook undergo little fishing mortality in the ocean. Spring-summer chinook harvest rates are also low in tribal ceremonial and subsistence fisheries in the Columbia river basin; commercial harvest is closed. There is no known harvest of Snake River sockeye. Incidental wild salmon and steelhead mortalities in sport fisheries for marked hatchery fish have been estimated to be minimal, and are closely monitored to ensure they do not constrain recovery efforts. Some Idaho runs are harvested at rates inconsistent with ESA protection. Spawning escapements of large Group B wild steelhead, which return to Idaho, are perilously low. In addition to poor mainstem migration condition, wild B steelhead escapements are further reduced by harvest rates of 30 percent in Columbia River fisheries for fall chinook and steelhead. Harvest rates in the ocean and Columbia river al
