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The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) finalized changes to the conservation objective for Southern Oregon coastal Chinook salmon, and changes to status determination criteria for southern Oregon coastal Chinook salmon, Grays Harbor fall Chinook salmon, and Willapa Bay natural coho. Conservation objectives are, generally, fixed quantities intended to provide the necessary guidance during the course of the annual preseason planning process to establish salmon fishing seasons that achieve optimum yield. Status determination criteria are defined in terms of population parameters used to prevent overfishing. These parameters generally are referred to as reference points. The Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan allowed for changes to these reference points without a plan amendment, provided a comprehensive technical review of the best scientific information available provided evidence that justified the changes. During its annual methodology review in October 2014, the Council's scientific advisors evaluated new scientific information from the States of Oregon and Washington for the three salmon stocks noted above. As a result, they recommended adopting new reference points based on this information. The Council adopted such new reference points, which allowed NMFS and the Council to manage fishery impacts to prevent overfishing on these stocks using the best available science. Through this rule, NMFS approved these new reference points for use in development of fishery management measures.