Chinook Technical Committee

The joint Chinook Technical Committee (CTC) reports directly to the Pacific Salmon Commission.

The CTC reports annually on catches, harvest rate indices, estimates of incidental mortality, and exploitation rates for all Chinook fisheries and stocks harvested within the Treaty area; and on the escapement of naturally spawning Chinook stocks in relation to agreed escapement objectives.

The CTC also provides yearly reports to the Commission that detail progress in assessment and monitoring for each stock in the Sentinel Stocks Program; progress in implementing improvements to the CWT program in the Treaty area as a result of recommendations from the Coded Wire Tag (CWT) workgroup; and compile information from the management agencies regarding the conduct and stock-specific impacts of any mark-selective fisheries for Chinook in the Treaty area.

The Chinook Technical Committee is responsible for:

• • Evaluating management actions for their consistency with measures set out in the Chinook Chapter (Chapter 3), and for their potential effectiveness in attaining the specified objectives;
  • Evaluating and reviewing existing escapement objectives that fishery management agencies have set for Chinook stocks subject to the Chinook Chapter and, where needed, recommending goals for naturally spawning Chinook stocks that are consistent with the intent of Chapter 3;
  • Recommending standards for the minimum assessment program required to effectively implement Chapter 3, providing information on stock assessments relative to these standards, and recommending  to the Commission any needed improvements in stock assessments;
  • Reviewing the effects of enhancement programs on abundance-based management regimes and recommending strategies for the effective utilization of enhanced stocks;
  • Recommending research projects, and their associated costs, required to implement the Chinook Chapter effectively; and
  • Exchanging information necessary to analyse the effectiveness of alternative fishery regulatory measures to satisfy conservation objectives.