Name: Surf smelt,Hypomesus pretiosus

Geographic Range: Long Beach, California to Chignik Lagoon, Alaska. An Asian subspecies, Hypomesus pretiosus japonicus, is common in the western Pacific. Surf smelt occur throughout the marine waters of Washington, from the Columbia River to the Canadian border and southernmost Puget Sound. They are an abundant schooling forage fish living in the near shore community of Puget Sound. Although their movements within the sound are unknown, a number of genetically distinct stocks are thought to occur.

Related Species: Surf smelt and salmon are members of the same taxonomic order, Salmoniformes. Other common local smelt are the eulachon or Columbia River smelt, (Thaleichthys pacificus) and hooligan or longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys). Both are anadromous, running up rivers to spawn in freshwater. Surf smelt can be distinguished from other forage fish such as herring, sand lance and anchovy, by the presence of an adipose fin.

Observations of surf smelt spawning activity describe a highly adapted and ritualized behavior. Several males will align themselves with a ripe female, keeping their position by the use of spawning tubercles which cover their scales and fin rays. The female and males vibrate in unison, causing the release of eggs and sperm. Neither the female nor the males release all of their gametes during any single spawning event, and multiple spawnings within and between tide cycles are common.

Fertilized surf smelt eggs have morphological features which cause the eggs to adhere to sand grains in which they are laid, giving stability to the deposited spawn. The outer membrane of the egg ruptures and turns inside out, forming a pedestal which is the point of the attachment. Wave action and tidal exchange buries the weighted eggs to a depth of several millimeters. While the eggs incubate in the sand they are "extra-aquatic", meaning they are submerged in saltwater during a portion of the tidal cycle. Extra-aquatic development is thought to be adaptive because the eggs are subjected to warmer temperatures and therefore develop quicker. The eggs are also less available to predation from birds and other fishes.

Development rates of surf smelt eggs vary greatly with seasonal ambient temperature. Surf smelt eggs brooded in winter months may require between 27 and 56 days to hatch, while those brooded in summer months may required between 11 and 16 days. Regardless of the brooding time, hatching surf smelt eggs release larva measuring about 3 mm which are at the mercy of the local tides and currents. After about 3 months they have grown to about 30 mm and taken on their adult form and coloration. Juvenile surf smelt rear in the near shore waters throughout Puget Sound.

The majority of surf smelt will mature to spawn in their second year, although a small proportion will spawn in their first year. Surf smelt do not die after spawning and may spawn in successive seasons. Like herring, surf smelt are thought to display some degree of homing, based on studies of their geographically and temporally distinct spawning behavior, parasitology and serology. The frequency of individual spawning and the degree to which individual surf smelt stray between spawning grounds are unknown.

Like all other forage fish, surf smelt experience high predation levels as eggs, juveniles and adults. As a result the maximum life span of a surf smelt is thought to be 5 years. Adult surf smelt feed primarily on planktonic organisms, and in turn are food for many marine animals such as seabirds, marine mammals, and other fishes. The movements of juveniles and adults between spawning seasons is virtually unknown.

Commercial and recreational surf smelt fisheries are currently "passively managed" by the department. Fisheries are not directly monitored, commercial landing information is obtained from sales documents and the recreational harvest is not annually estimated. For management purposes, surf smelt, longfin smelt and a variety of less common smelt, are managed under the same regulations even though their biology and ecological requirements are quite different.

In previous years, surf smelt management was intended to protect and conserve spawning stocks and to regulate commercial and recreational fisheries, which often occur on common fishing grounds, in such a way as to maximize the social and economic benefit of the resource. These goals were achieved by regulating harvest so that a portion of any stock spawned unmolested. Based on what is now known to be limited spawning information, Washington's surf smelt spawning stocks are opened to commercial and recreational harvest one month after the historical onset of spawning. From information collected in recent years, the spawning "seasons" are now known to be peaks in spawning activity, as many of the stocks have been documented to spawn year-round. In addition, commercial and recreational fisheries have weekly closures designed to separate the two activities.

A growing awareness of the importance of surf smelt as forage resulted in the implementation of a systematic study to obtain a better understanding of this species. The initial work has focused on the identification and documentation of surf smelt spawning habitat. To date, 75 percent of Puget Sound's beaches have been surveyed resulting in the documentation of 195 miles of surf smelt spawning habitat. Surf smelt are more abundant than previously assumed and are a significant part of the total Puget Sound forage base.

Spawning Stocks

In Washington, Surf smelt are thought to belong to specific stocks based on their use of geographically distinct spawning grounds and the temporal use of those grounds. Under the current "passive management strategy" Puget Sound surf smelt are allocated to one of three spawning groups, year round, fall-winter and summer spawners.

(Documented surf smelt spawning grounds GIF , 19k.)

The adjacent chart shows, in yellow, surf smelt spawning grounds currently documented in Puget Sound.

Spawning occurs year round at beaches on and around Whidbey Island, Camano Island, Birch Point, Cherry Point, Fidalgo Bay, Sinclair Inlet, Dyes Inlet and the San Juan Islands. Peaks in spawning activity occur, which were previously thought to be "seasons".

Surf smelt have been documented to spawn in the fall and winter on and around Liberty Bay, Port Orchard, Quartermaster Harbor, Southern Hood Canal and Southern Puget Sound.

Spawning occurs in the summer months on beaches along Washington's coast and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Many additional suspected spawning areas and possible extensions of the documented spawning seasons await investigation, and previously unreported areas continue to found.

Surf smelt have specific spawning habitat requirements. Inside Puget Sound, 80 percent of the surf smelt spawn was found in gravel ranging in size form 1-7 mm in diameter, as determined by grain size analysis. This substrate is commonly called "pea gravel" or "coarse sand". Similar substrate characteristics were found on Washington's coastal beaches. This suggests that the substrate characteristics are an important factor in determining surf smelt spawning locations.

In addition to substrate characteristics, surf smelt require a specific tidal elevation for successful spawning. Surf smelt spawn around the highest tide, most frequently in the afternoon or early evening. Inside Puget Sound spawning is concentrated at a tidal elevation between +7.0 and the mean high-high water line, while coastal spawning surf smelt utilize a lower tidal elevation corresponding to a zone with a fairly fine gravel substrate.

The specific nature of surf smelt spawning ground and limited extent of available spawning habitat in Puget Sound has made the species quite vulnerable to shoreline development and construction activities. Some spawning grounds are currently mere remnants of their original extent. Surf smelt spawning grounds have been mapped, and spawning seasons determined in many areas, leading to the formation of regulations for inclusion in the Washington Administrative Code Hydrolic Code Rules. These regulations govern the extent to which bulkheads or fills can intrude seaward of the high tide line on known surf smelt spawning beaches and the time of year during which admissible work can be conducted. Inability to comply in a project design will result in denial of a construction permit. Failure to comply in the process of construction can result in fines and removal of the offending project.

Some attempts to restore or enhance surf smelt beaches have been attempted. In most of these cases, pea gravel has been deposited on the impacted beach. Subsequent surveys of the artificial beach material has shown that such material is unstable and prone to lateral transport. Large scale rehabilitation of surf smelt spawning grounds is an unproven mitigation technique.

Commercial fisheries for surf smelt are widespread throughout Washington State waters. Fisheries occur on both spawning and non-spawning fish. The harvest of spawning fish, usually 2 years and older, takes place on the spawning grounds. Fisheries directed at non-spawning congregations typically harvest juvenile fish (1-1/2 years) and adult fish that are recovering from spawning. These non-spawning aggregations, which are actively feeding, are not as predictable as spawning surf smelt but do occur in traditional areas with some degree of regularity.

Commercial fisheries are not actively managed by WDFW. Fishing times, areas and gear types are regulated by Washington Administrative Code. The commercial harvest is monitored through the fish ticket system which documents sales. Washington commercial landings of surf smelt have been relatively constant at about 100,000 pounds annually.

The most recent evaluation of the commercial surf smelt fishery was conducted in 1995. This evaluation found that the commercial surf smelt fisheries landed a total of 156,615 pounds, of which 74.4 percent (116,515 pounds) were taken inside Puget Sound (east of the Sekiu River), while the remaining 25.6 percent (40,100 pounds) were taken from the Northern Washington Coast.

In 1995, Puget Sound fishing activity was centered in the Saratoga/Skagit Region, on the traditional fishing grounds at Utsalady. Of the total Puget Sound catch 63.6 percent (74,184 pounds) were taken from the Utsalady grounds between July 1st and October 31st. The majority of the fish were harvested by drag seine, the traditional commercial surf smelt gear, although an increasing number are taken by baitfish purse seine gear.

he remainder of the Puget Sound commercial landings were made in the Hood Canal and South Sound Regions. In Hood Canal 23,151 pounds (20 percent of the Puget Sound catch) were taken by drag seine in Between October 1st and November 30th. In the South Sound Region 19,180 pounds (16.4 percent of the Puget Sound total) were taken by drag seine between September and November.

The 1995 Puget Sound commercial surf smelt landing of 116,515 pounds was nearly double the five year average of 64,254 pounds, reflecting increased interest in surf smelt.The amount of surf smelt landed by commercial fisheries primarily reflects market trends rather than stock abundance. These large landings were the result of increased demand for surf smelt, primarily due to the development of new markets.

Preliminary estimates of surf smelt spawner biomass derived from an egg production population model based on information collected during the systematic survey of spawning beaches, suggests the 1995 commercial harvest rate of surf smelt was less than 1% of the Puget Sound biomass, well below the 20% harvest rate used coast wide for manage Pacific herring.

Surf smelt recreational fisheries occur year-round and are scattered throughout the coast and Puget Sound. Coastal recreational fisheries generally harvest spawning surf smelt during the summer months. An example is the fishery at Kalaloch and Ruby beaches, south of LaPush.

In Puget Sound recreational surf smelt fisheries occur in all months of the year on spawning fish and seasonally on non-spawning fish. Traditionally surf smelt fisheries on spawning fish occur at evening high tides on the spawning grounds. Participants stand along the high tide line or wade in shallow water to "dip" or "rake" surf smelt as they come inshore to spawn. The traditional gear is a surf smelt dip bag or "rake" which appears to be more like a cage attached to a long pole. Typically the dip bag is rested in water slightly deeper than the bag frame.

With careful attention to the attached pole, surf smelt which enter the bag can be detected by sight or feel as they encounter the net. When surf smelt have entered the bag it is swiftly drawn inshore where the fish are recovered. In this type of fishery more males are caught than females, and only mature fish are harvested.

In addition to dip or rake fisheries on spawning fish, congregations of non-spawning surf smelt are harvested by "jig" fisheries. These congregations are made up of juvenile surf smelt and adults recovering from spawning.

The best example is the jig fishery which occurs at LaConner during the winter. In this type of fishery, surf smelt are "jigged" from access along the shore using baitfish jigger gear, usually marina docks or floats. In this type of fishery more juvenile fish are harvested than adults so accurate sex ratios can not be estimated.

No monitoring of the recreational catch occurs except by special project. The annual recreational catch is thought to be equal to the total annual commercial catch or about 100,000 pounds.

Two Puget Sound recreational surf smelt fisheries have been recently examined. A 1986-87 study of the LaConner fishery jig, which harvests non-spawning fish, reported an estimated annual catch of 44,400 pounds (Hoffman et.al. 1990), and a 1991-92 investigation of the recreational fishery at Ross Point, a WDFW owned property on Sinclair Inlet (Wildermuth, 1993). The Ross Point fishery harvests spawning adults during a traditional three month fishing season (mid-October through mid-January), although spawning occurs in all months of the year. The 1992 study estimated a recreational catch of 1,989 pounds and a spawner biomass of 8,742 pounds. The harvest rate for the 1992 Ross Point fishery was estimated to be 23 percent of the spawning adults.

More surf smelt fishing opportunities are documented annually by the systematic survey. A summary of some of the recreational opportunities is available along with the pertinent regulations.