Impacts of NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s Proposed 4(d) Determination under Limit 5 for the Trinity River Hatchery Coho Salmon Program

The proposed action: to operate the Trinity River Hatchery as an integrated hatchery program to produce coho salmon that will help conserve and restore, as well as reduce the ecological and genetic impacts to, an ESA-listed species. The hatchery is operated to mitigate for spawning and rearing habitat lost as a result of the construction of the Lewiston and Trinity dams on the Trinity River.

The Hoopa Valley Tribe is opposed to reducing smolt production because they are concerned about reduced opportunities to harvest hatchery coho salmon in their tribal fisheries. However, CA Fish and Wildlife, Yurok Tribe, Bureau of Reclamation, and NMFS all agree that reducing smolt production would conserve natural coho salmon populations.