The Pacific Fishery Management Council will convene a meeting of the Salmon Advisory Subpanel by telephone conference that is open to the public. The SAS will meet on Monday, October 29, 2012 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., or when business for the call is completed.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's Salmon Technical Team (STT), Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Salmon Subcommittee, and Model Evaluation Workgroup (MEW) will review proposed salmon methodology changes in a joint work session, which is open to the public.

The purpose of the work session is to discuss and review proposed changes to analytical methods used in salmon management. Potential topics for the work session include but are not limited to; bias-correction methods for mark-selective coho fisheries, size limit evaluation methods for Chinook fisheries, and a preliminary assessment of abundance-based management of California Coastal Chinook. The final list of topics for the work session is scheduled to be adopted by the Council at their September 13-18, 2012 meeting in Boise, ID.

Lyndal Johnson a fisheries biologist and toxicologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and her team of scientists were sampling English sole, a flatfish common to the sound’s Elliott Bay, when they noticed something. “These fish in Elliott Bay, when all the other fish had completed spawning, ready to go home, it’s all over for them, the Elliott Bay were still ripe and still had eggs that they had not yet spawned.”

The Puget Sound Marine Waters workgroup of the Puget Sound Environmental Monitoring Program, part of the collaborative effort of the Puget Sound Partnership, released the first annual report on marine water conditions in Puget Sound. The report combines a wealth of data from comprehensive monitoring programs and provides a concise summary of what was happening in Puget Sound’s marine waters during 2011. It covers areas such as climate and weather, river inputs, seawater temperature, salinity, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, ocean acidification, phytoplankton, biotoxins, bacteria and pathogens, shellfish resources, and more.

On May 16, 2012, NMFS published a notice announcing the Proposed Lower Columbia Recovery Plan and it was available for public review and comment (77 FR 28855). Comments were due by July 16, 2012. On June 22, 2012, we received a letter from the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (Council) requesting an extension of the public comment period. The Council noted that the comment period precluded the opportunity for their advisory bodies and staff to review the Proposed Plan and develop comments for approval at the September 2012 Council meeting. The Council is a valued partner in planning and implementing recovery for West Coast salmon and steelhead. To afford the Council sufficient opportunity to review the Proposed Plan and provide comments through their typical processes, we are reopening the comment period for 30 days. New comments will be due by October 9, 2012.

We, NMFS, announce a 90-day finding on a petition to delist the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We find that the petition does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted.

NOAA Fisheries announces 11 inseason actions in the ocean salmon fisheries. These inseason actions modified the commercial and recreational fisheries in the area from the U.S./Canada Border to the Oregon/California Border.

The effective dates for the inseason action are set out in this document under the heading Inseason Actions. Comments will be accepted through September 25, 2012.

This request is for a new information collection.

National Ocean Services' Office of Response and Restoration, Assessment and Restoration Division and the National Marine Fisheries Services' Office of Habitat Conservation are requesting approval for a new information collection to conduct a pilot study to test the Elwha River Dam Removal and Floodplain Restoration Ecosystem Service Valuation Survey it has developed.

Less than five months after the removal of the Elwha Dam, adult Chinook (king) salmon were observed in Olympic National Park.These are the first observed Elwha River salmon to naturally migrate into the park.When the Elwha Dam became operational in 1913, twenty-five years before the establishment of the park, over 70 miles of habitat were blocked to fish passage.

NMFS announces the adoption of a Final Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery plan for the Central California Coast coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU). The Final Recovery Plan for Central California Coast coho salmon (Final Recovery Plan) is now available. In addition, informative public meetings will be held (see below for dates and locations).