The jamestown sklallam tribe (JST or tribe) along with other signatories to the 1855 treaty of point no point and washington state are CO managers of the natural resources within their ceded area with…

The Jamestown S'klallam Tribe received a $200,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the Tribal Wildlife Grants program (CFDA 15.639), awarded October 1, 2025, with a completion date of September 30, 2027. The grant supports a one-year population survey and dietary analysis initiative focused on pinnipeds (harbor seals and California sea lions) in the Dungeness River estuary and Cline Spit area of Washington State. The project will deliver quantifiable data on pinniped populations, haul-out site locations and characteristics, and dietary composition through genetic analysis of fecal materials and hard parts analysis of salmonid bones to determine predation patterns on threatened and declining salmon species.

This research addresses a critical gap in understanding the ecological impacts of growing pinniped populations on salmon recovery efforts in the Dungeness River, which supports two Endangered Species Act-listed salmon species (summer chum and Chinook) as well as six additional salmonid species with declining populations. As co-managers of natural resources under the 1855 Treaty of Point No Point, the Jamestown S'klallam Tribe will generate essential baseline information to inform wildlife management decisions and support both tribal resource stewardship and broader federal salmon recovery objectives in Western Washington.

The jamestown sklallam tribe (JST or tribe) along with other signatories to the 1855 treaty of point no point and washington state are CO managers of the natural resources within their ceded area with the common goal of managing and preserving wildlife for current and future generations. Salmon have long been an important food source and trade item for the sklallams and neighboring tribes (boxberger 1989). However many important salmon runs have shown significant declines in the past 150 years. The dungeness river is home to two salmon species listed as threatened under the endangered species act (ESA) summer chum (orcorhynchus keta) and chinook (oncorhyncus tshawytscha) (NOAA 79 F.R. 20802) plus six other salmonid species whose population have declined since the 1850S.since the passage of the marine mammal protection act in 1972 harbor seal (phoca vitulina richardsii) and california sea lion (zalophus californianus) numbers across western washington have increased greatly. There is strong recent evidence that salmonids are consumed by pinnipeds in some parts of western washington (scordino ET AL. 2022). Despite the increases in pinniped populations there is a lack of information regarding how growing seal populations may be impacting salmon recovery. In the last decade a number of seals are consistently observed feeding and hauling out near the mouth of the dungeness river and adjacent cline spit which make up the core of our proposed study area.JST proposes initiating population surveys and dietary analyses of the pinnipeds for one year. Population surveys will focus on counting the number of pinnipeds within the study area as well as mapping haul out sites and describing the physical characteristics of haul out sites. Dietary research will analyze the genetic materials deposited in feces to determine what prey species are being consumed and the relative proportions while an analysis of salmonid bones in the feces (called hard parts analysis) will determine the age class of the eaten salmonids. From small to large age classifications will include smolts (out migrating) mid age (year round residents) and adult (returning spawners). By pairing genetic metabarcoding with hard parts analysis we can estimate the relative amounts of each prey species eaten plus which age and size classes of salmonids are most vulnerable to predation. Successful implementation of this project will allow the tribe to quantify if pinnipeds are consuming salmonids in or around the mouth of the dungeness river and if so how significant the impacts are. This is a preliminary study to determine if further research (i.e. additional sites and years) is warranted. As such we are intentionally limiting our research to a single study site for one year.