Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office

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Our work at the Western Washington Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office (WWFWCO) addresses a variety of fish and aquatic conservation priorities throughout western Washington.  This work involves partners from Federal, State, Tribal, local-government, and non-governmental organizations.  The four main focus areas include:

Hatchery Evaluation:  We work with hatchery staff and tribal partners to evaluate hatchery programs at the three National Fish Hatcheries in our Complex; Quilcene, Makah, and Quinault. Data collected from these efforts is used to better manage our National Fish Hatcheries which provide salmon and steelhead for harvest and recreational opportunities.

Population Assessment:  Our staff work with our partners across Western Washington to conduct scientific monitoring and evaluation for a number of fish species and other aquatic organisms. These efforts help monitor the status of threatened, endangered, and sensitive species, evaluate the effects of urbanization on fish populations, and prioritize conservation and recovery efforts.

Fishery Management Assistance:  We provide data and technical expertise to multiple fishery management forums. We help curate and report regional coded-wire-tag data for USFWS, evaluate the impacts of coastwide salmon fisheries, and help develop fishery management recommendations.

Habitat Restoration:  Our office manages two aquatic habitat restoration programs: the National Fish Passage Program and the Chehalis Fisheries Restoration Program. WWFWCO staff also conduct monitoring studies to evaluate the effectiveness of aquatic habitat restoration projects.

The following video highlight some of our population monitoring projects from the summer of 2022.