The Council has taken an active role in managing Sacramento River fall Chinook (SRFC), a key species for West Coast salmon fisheries, for long-term sustainability. In recent years, efforts have focused on reevaluating the SRFC conservation objective and management reference points through a series of coordinated actions, including technical reviews, agency collaboration, and the formation of the ad-hoc Sacramento River fall Chinook Workgroup (SRWG).
The timeline below outlines key milestones in this ongoing process.
Sacramento River Fall Chinook
April 2022: The Council included, among other topics, a review of the SRFC conservation objective as an item for the 2022 Salmon Methodology Review.
November 2022: The Council received reports from advisory bodies on the outcomes of the October Salmon Methodology Review, including on the literature review that evaluated the SRFC conservation objective. The literature review described the basis of the conservation objective, originally developed in the 1980s using data from the 1950s–1980s, and found it difficult to replicate the current objective using historical data.
The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) and Salmon Technical Team (STT) both supported prioritizing the development of a new conservation objective due to ongoing conservation concerns and the importance of SRFC to salmon fisheries south of Cape Falcon. Additional discussions included the potential for new cohort reconstruction models incorporating age structure.
April 2023: The Council requested that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and Council staff collaborate on a scoping report exploring potential pathways to reevaluate SRFC conservation objectives.
June 2023: Following review of the scoping report, the Council established the SRWG. Draft Terms of Reference were adopted, and the SRWG was tasked with:
- Delivering a summary report by spring 2024 detailing scoping efforts for a revised conservation objective, harvest control rule, and reference point alternatives.
- Providing updates on recommended next steps, timelines, and processes for evaluating the SRFC conservation framework.
June 2024: The SRWG provided their first report to the Council. The report included an evaluation of the current reference points (FMSY, SMSY, MSST), conservation objective, and harvest control rule. The report also offered preliminary alternatives for future management measures.
September 2024: The Council selected two topics proposed by the SRWG for the 2024 Salmon Methodology Review – Derivation of proxy SMSY/SMSP ratio and FMSY value suitable for use for SRFC and Sacramento River Fall Chinook cohort reconstruction (CR) and comparison to the Sacramento Index (SI). These topics were recognized as foundational to SRWG’s ongoing work.
November 2024: The SRWG provided their second report to the Council. The Council provided guidance on how to integrate the outcomes of the 2024 Salmon Methodology Review into future SRFC management.
Sacramento River Fall Chinook Rebuilding Plan
June 18, 2018: NMFS notified the Council SRFC is overfished. In response, the Council directed the STT and collaborators to develop a rebuilding plan for Council consideration within one year.
April 2019: The Council adopted the Rebuilding Plan as draft for public review.
June 2019: The Council adopted the SRFC Rebuilding Plan.
September 2021: NMFS notified the Council SRFC is rebuilt.
Council correspondence related to Sacramento River fall Chinook can be found here.
Future SRWG meetings can be found on our events page.
Past SRWG meeting materials can be found on the NOAA Fisheries webpage.