SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

ESA-Listed Species Covered in This Notice

• Puget Sound Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): threatened, naturally and artificially propagated;
• Puget Sound Steelhead (O. mykiss): threatened, naturally and artificially propagated.

Background

The term “take” is defined under the ESA to mean harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct. The ESA prohibits the take of endangered salmonids and, pursuant to ESA section 4(d), ESA regulations can be extended to prohibit the take of threatened salmonids. However, NMFS may make exceptions to the take prohibitions for hatchery programs that are approved by NMFS under the limits on the prohibitions outlined in 50 CFR 223.203(b). The operators, the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, and WDFW, have submitted three HGMPs to NMFS pursuant to NMFS' limit 6 of the 4(d) rule of the ESA for hatchery activities in the Skagit River basin, Washington. As required in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) rule for salmon and steelhead, the Secretary of Commerce published notice of NMFS' proposed evaluation and pending determination (PEPD) together with a discussion of the biological analysis underlying that determination. NMFS received one public comment on that PEPD. The ERD is NMFS' determination for how the HGMPs address the criteria in 50 CFR 223.203(b)(5).

The hatchery programs are designed to contribute to tribal and non-tribal fisheries. These hatchery programs are intended to contribute to fulfilling Federal trust responsibilities toward Tribes with rights guaranteed through treaties, as affirmed in United States v. Washington (19 7 4), by contributing to salmon harvests. Included in the HGMPs is monitoring activities to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs in meeting their goals while limiting impacts to Puget Sound Chinook salmon and Puget Sound steelhead.

Classification

Under section 4 of the ESA, the Secretary of Commerce may issue regulations for the conservation of listed threatened species. The ESA salmon and steelhead 4(d) rule (50 CFR 223.203(b)) specifies categories of activities that contribute to the conservation of listed salmonids and sets out the criteria for such activities. The rule further provides that the prohibitions of paragraph (a) of the rule do not apply to actions undertaken in compliance with a plan developed jointly by a state and a tribe and determined by NMFS to be in accordance with the salmon and steelhead 4(d) rule (65 FR 42422, July 10, 2000).

Authority:16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.;16 U.S.C. 742a et seq.

91 FR 68114