Summary & Evaluation of Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Coho Salmon 2016

Many West Coast salmon and steelhead (Oncorhynchus spp.) 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 collectively led the National Marine Fisheries Service to list 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. Such reviews for the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) coho salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) occurred in 2005 (Good et al. 2005) and 2011 (NMFS 2011). This document describes the results of the 2015 review of ESA-listed SONCC coho salmon.