To monitor recreational fisheries on the washington coast, the region 6 fish management team is seeking funding to support additional staff

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1 awarded $336,259 to the Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) under the Sport Fish Restoration program (CFDA 15.605) for the period July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. This formula grant supports monitoring and assessment of recreational fisheries on the Washington coast through staffing enhancements and creel data collection activities.

The funding enables WDFW's Region 6 Fish Management Team to conduct opportunistic creel surveys of steelhead fisheries from November through April across Washington coast rivers and to maintain a 12-month Biologist 3 position responsible for supervision, analysis, and reporting of new and existing creel data collected in these and other regional river systems. These services support the Sport Fish Restoration program's core mission to restore, conserve, manage, and enhance sport fish populations while providing public access to aquatic recreational resources through evidence-based fisheries monitoring and data analysis.

Work that would be completed includes opportunistic creel of steelhead fisheries from november through april in rivers on the washington coast. Additionally, this funding would support the supervision, analysis and reporting of new and existing creel data collected in these and other rivers through a 12-month position at the biologist 3 level.