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EVERETT PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT  SMITH ISLAND ESTUARY RESTORATION YEARS 5 & 6 MONITORING <br />The Project site is intended to provide off-channel rearing, foraging, and refuge habitat for juvenile <br />salmonids. Per Tables 6-1 and 6-2 of the Advance Mitigation Plan, fish use monitoring is required in <br />Year 3 to document the fish species that are using the project site; catch per unit effort; salmonid <br />species size classes, life stage, and origin (wild or hatchery). The goal of this monitoring is to <br />document that the site is being used by a variety of native fish species, including juvenile salmonids. <br />Documenting use of the AMS by estuarine fish species, including juvenile salmonids, indicates that <br />the AMS is on a trajectory to meet the goals of achieving interspersed estuarine habitat. Fish use is <br />also an indicator of meeting the AMS goals of intertidal marsh development and habitat complexity <br />in that the marshes and mudflats export organic material downstream and provide habitat for <br />benthic invertebrates, both of which support the estuarine food web on which rearing salmonids <br />depend. <br />Data Collection Coordination <br />Consistent with the approach taken in Year 1 by ICF and Year 3 by NSD, NSD will again coordinate <br />with Snohomish County/Tulalip Tribe/National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) during their 2023 <br />sampling in the larger lower Snohomish River estuary to ensure sampling is completed within the <br />site’s tidal channel. The site is described as the ‘Everett Channel and the Everett Mitigation Channel’ <br />in the County’s documents and data files. NSD anticipates that fish will be collected under a scientific <br />collection permit from WDFW and NOAA/Tulalip/Snohomish County’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) <br />Section 10 A1a collection permit. <br />Fish use sampling will be conducted in the AMS, as well as in the larger Smith Island Estuary <br />Restoration project’s stater channels and blind channels, and from sites within the lower estuary <br />(e.g., Mid Spencer Island). Utilization of these collaboratively gathered data meets the intent of the <br />Advance Mitigation Plan (ICF 2016) to document fish use within the site, while also capitalizing on the <br />larger monitoring effort being conducted to monitor estuarine restoration in the lower Snohomish <br />River estuary. Sampling is anticipated to be conducted on a cycle of approximately every two weeks <br />between February and August 2023 using a modified Puget Sound beach seine deployed from a boat <br />moving downstream across the site’s tidal channel. Captured fish are placed in buckets for <br />temporary holding, identified by species, a subset of each species is measured, and the fish released <br />as quickly as possible. Chinook and coho salmon are identified as hatchery or natural origin based on <br />visual identification of external marks (adipose fin clip) or detected presence of a coded-wire tag. <br />Data Analysis <br />NSD will analyze the fish use data per the performance standards specified in the Advance Mitigation <br />Plan and will compare the species caught within the mitigation site to that reported in the Years 1 <br />and 3 Monitoring Reports. NSD will prepare summary tables and figures for inclusion in the Year 5 <br />Monitoring Report (Task 5). <br />Task 3 Deliverables: <br /> Year 3 fish use analysis and summary tables for inclusion in Task 5, Year 5 Monitoring Report <br />Task 3 Assumptions: <br /> NSD will not conduct independent monitoring of the project site. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: B75A46E0-B4A7-4C6C-B91E-69B691B92514