Winter steelhead returning to the Skagit River watershed to spawn this year will support tribal treaty fishing opportunities for the third year in a row.
These steelhead were an invaluable winter food source for tribes along the Skagit and Sauk rivers historically, and remain an important source of cultural sustenance today.
The local sockeye run is part of the Puget Sound steelhead population listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act since 2007.
When 4,000 or fewer fish are forecast to return, tribal fishers from the Upper Skagit, Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes—as well as catch-and-release anglers overseen by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)—abstain from fishing.
An estimated 7,019 steelhead are forecast to return this year.
“There is a slight uptick in the forecast for winter steelhead, which on a positive note will provide harvestable fish for the state and tribes on the Skagit this year,” said Scott Schuyler, a fisherman and the natural resources policy representative of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe.
Fishing is set to take place from February into April, and the tribes and state will coordinate monitoring to ensure the run is sustainable.
“Rebuilding the steelhead runs has been, and will continue to be, a priority for the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe,” Schuyler said.
For its part, the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe conducts a test fishery, gathering data at various locations in the river including the number of fish caught, the size of each fish and whether they have spawned. Scales are also collected from each fish for analysis of genetic diversity.
WDFW relies on that data to improve its annual run size estimates in conjunction with its own steelhead monitoring efforts. The state agency secured $1.6 million in the governor’s 2025-2027 budget to support ongoing monitoring of the species.
In 2024, the state and tribal co-managers forecast that 5,215 wild steelhead might return to the Skagit. By the end of the run, an estimated 7,307 fish had returned—the largest return recorded since 2016 according to WDFW data.
In 2023, a forecast of 5,211 steelhead were projected to return to the watershed. An estimated 6,722 completed the journey according to monitoring efforts.
Steelhead returns were stronger prior to the closure of a hatchery program a decade ago, after which opportunities for treaty harvest declined. Because of habitat loss and degradation, hatcheries are critical in most Northwest rivers to sustain salmon and steelhead populations.
Above: Staff of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe’s Natural Resources Department gather and examine steelhead during a test fishery in 2023. Photos and story by Kimberly Cauvel.
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