Summary & Evaluation of California Coastal Chinook Salmon and Northern California Steelhead 2016

Many West Coast salmon and steelhead (Oncorhynchus sp.) stocks have declined substantially from their historic numbers and now are at a fraction of their historical abundance. There are several factors that contribute to these declines, including: overfishing, loss of freshwater and estuarine habitat, hydropower development, poor ocean conditions, and hatchery practices.  These factors, among others, led to the National Marine Fisheries Service‘s (NMFS) listing of 28 salmon and steelhead stocks in California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The ESA, under section 4(c)(2), directs the Secretary of Commerce to review the listing classification of threatened and endangered species at least once every five years. After completing this review, the Secretary must determine if any species should be: (1) removed from the list; (2) have its status changed from threatened to endangered; or (3) have its status changed from endangered to threatened. NMFS completed a 5-year status review in 2011 and concluded the status for threatened California Coastal (CC) Chinook salmon and Northern California (NC) steelhead should remain as threatened (NMFS 2011a, NMFS 2011b). This document summarizes NMFS’s current 5-year review for the threatened CC Chinook salmon and NC steelhead.