143rd Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, Sep 9, 2013
ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for i... more ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of human development (dam construction and habitat destruction). In the past twenty years hatcheries have evolved to meet both conservation and harvest objectives. Multiple expert panel reviews have produced generalized management principles for hatcheries aimed to minimize hatchery fish risks to natural populations. Recently two groups, the Hatchery Science Review Group (HSRG) and Hatchery Review Team (HRT), developed best management practice recommendations for hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. Even though the HSRG and HRT acknowledged that alternative actions exist and should be considered, policy and funding entities are considering adopting/requiring the HSRG and HRT recommendations. Many of the recommendations require additional funding for infrastructure modification and/or increased operational complexity. In most cases, implementing the full suite of best management principles (BMPs) is either cost prohibitive or logistically infeasible. Several common BMPs for recovering natural populations include: achieving 100% marking on hatchery production, implementing selective harvest regimes, maximizing natural origin fish utilized in hatchery broodstock, and minimizing hatchery fish on spawning grounds. Failure to fully implement one or all of these is commonly perceived as a death sentence for the natural population. We utilize ESA listed Snake River fall Chinook to explore “how good is good enough”? Only 50% of Snake River fall Chinook hatchery production is adipose fin clipped and 22% release unmarked; 30% or higher are subject to non-selective harvest; and utilization of natural origin fish in hatchery broodstocks was intentionally avoided for the first 30 years of the program. During the last ten years hatchery fish have constituted 67% of natural spawner escapement. Yet, natural origin abundance has increased 10 fold since the 1980’s. The current 10 year geometric mean of natural origin abundance averages 5,000 fish; exceeding the recommended ESA delisting abundance criteria.
The Lostine River Chinook Salmon Supplementation program began as a conservation effort in 1995 w... more The Lostine River Chinook Salmon Supplementation program began as a conservation effort in 1995 with the collection of juvenile Chinook salmon for a captive broodstock program. A conventional supplementation program began collecting adult broodstock in 1997 and phased out the captive broodstock program in 2010. The first priority of both supplementation programs was to increase the overall abundance of Chinook salmon returning to spawn. Smolt production is supported by the Bonneville Power Administration (conservation objective) and by the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (mitigation program). The hatchery program goal is to produce a total of 250,000 smolts to return 1,647 adults. Adult escapement (ages 4 and 5) prior to returns of hatchery-origin Chinook salmon ranged from 90 to 233 fish from 1997 to 2000. Hatchery-origin adult returns from 2001 to 2009 bolstered Chinook salmon adult escapement starting in 2001, ranging from 422 to 2,069 fish. Hatchery-origin adult returns have...
Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of... more Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of human development (dam construction and habitat destruction). In the past twenty years hatcheries have evolved to meet both conservation and harvest objectives. Multiple expert panel reviews have produced generalized management principles for hatcheries aimed to minimize hatchery fish risks to natural populations. Recently two groups, the Hatchery Science Review Group (HSRG) and Hatchery Review Team (HRT), developed best management practice recommendations for hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. Even though the HSRG and HRT acknowledged that alternative actions exist and should be considered, policy and funding entities are considering adopting/requiring the HSRG and HRT recommendations. Many of the recommendations require additional funding for infrastructure modification and/or increased operational complexity. In most cases, implementing the full suite of best management principl...
Fish management is becoming increasingly complex, with multiple stakeholders having influence on:... more Fish management is becoming increasingly complex, with multiple stakeholders having influence on: management decision making, management action implementation, and life stage specific fish survival mechanisms. The Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) is a stakeholder with treaty-reserved fishing rights. As a fishery co-manager, the NPT utilizes hatcheries as a tool to maintain harvest and restore healthy populations throughout its usual and accustomed area. Tribal policy success principles associated with the hatchery management tool include: fish on the table (or fish in nets), fish in the habitat, functional ecosystems, and ensuring active fish management role. Contemporary attributes of salmon and steelhead hatcheries in the Snake River basin will be described. 1) The social, cultural, and economic benefits of salmon and steelhead harvest are immense. 2) Hatcheries represent a promise – they are payment on the unfulfilled debt to mitigate for limiting factors (e.g., hydrosystem, habitat destruc...
For over a century, stocking of hatchery-produced salmon has been used in an attempt to augment t... more For over a century, stocking of hatchery-produced salmon has been used in an attempt to augment the number salmon and steelhead available for harvest in the Pacific Northwest commercial, sport and tribal fisheries, and more recently as a means to rebuild the abundance of depressed wild populations (supplementation). However, the benefits and potential for deleterious effects of hatchery actions on natural populations are critical uncertainties relative to the use of hatcheries for achieving management goals. A three-pronged approach has been developed to monitor and evaluate hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. The approach involves, 1) an investigation of the long-term trends in the abundance and productivity of supplemented populations relative to un-supplemented populations, 2) conducting a series of relative reproductive success studies to quantify short-term impacts, and 3) implementation of intensive studies designed to elucidate various biological mechanisms by which intro...
ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for i... more ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of human development (dam construction and habitat destruction). In the past twenty years hatcheries have evolved to meet both conservation and harvest objectives. Multiple expert panel reviews have produced generalized management principles for hatcheries aimed to minimize hatchery fish risks to natural populations. Recently two groups, the Hatchery Science Review Group (HSRG) and Hatchery Review Team (HRT), developed best management practice recommendations for hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. Even though the HSRG and HRT acknowledged that alternative actions exist and should be considered, policy and funding entities are considering adopting/requiring the HSRG and HRT recommendations. Many of the recommendations require additional funding for infrastructure modification and/or increased operational complexity. In most cases, implementing the full suite of best management principles (BMPs) is either cost prohibitive or logistically infeasible. Several common BMPs for recovering natural populations include: achieving 100% marking on hatchery production, implementing selective harvest regimes, maximizing natural origin fish utilized in hatchery broodstock, and minimizing hatchery fish on spawning grounds. Failure to fully implement one or all of these is commonly perceived as a death sentence for the natural population. We utilize ESA listed Snake River fall Chinook to explore “how good is good enough”? Only 50% of Snake River fall Chinook hatchery production is adipose fin clipped and 22% release unmarked; 30% or higher are subject to non-selective harvest; and utilization of natural origin fish in hatchery broodstocks was intentionally avoided for the first 30 years of the program. During the last ten years hatchery fish have constituted 67% of natural spawner escapement. Yet, natural origin abundance has increased 10 fold since the 1980’s. The current 10 year geometric mean of natural origin abundance averages 5,000 fish; exceeding the recommended ESA delisting abundance criteria.
The Nimiipúu (Nez Perce people) have always co-existed with and harvested fish. Tribal philosophy... more The Nimiipúu (Nez Perce people) have always co-existed with and harvested fish. Tribal philosophy holds that the fish are as dependent on the Niimiipuu as the Niimiipuu are on the fish. One cannot exist without the other, without the purpose that each was put here by the Creator to accomplish. Today, the Nez Perce Tribe continues to harvest fish on reservation and in off-reservation “usual and accustomed” fishing areas now located in the present-day states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. This right of taking fish encompasses all aspects traditionally involved in the use and management of fish. The Nimiipuu retains the inherent authority to use and protect salmon and other important fishes. Our dependence on fish to meet dietary, spiritual, and basic subsistence needs is still a prevailing necessity of life for the Tribe and is protected by the Treaty of 1855. The Nimiipuu have sought to achieve a management system which recognizes the importance of exercising its fishing rights un...
ABSTRACT Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-82). Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University... more ABSTRACT Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-82). Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-82).
ABSTRACT The specific research goal of this project is to identify means to restore and rebuild t... more ABSTRACT The specific research goal of this project is to identify means to restore and rebuild the Snake River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) population to support a sustainable annual subsistence harvest equivalent to 5 kg/ha/yr (CBFWA 1997). Based on data collected, a white sturgeon adaptive management plan will be developed. This report presents a summary of results from the 1997-2002 Phase II data collection and represents the end of phase II. From 1997 to 2001 white sturgeon were captured, marked, and population data were collected in the Snake and Salmon. A total of 1,785 white sturgeon were captured and tagged in the Snake River and 77 in the Salmon River. Since 1997, 25.8 percent of the tagged white sturgeon have been recaptured. Relative density of white sturgeon was highest in the free-flowing segment of the Snake River, with reduced densities of fish in Lower Granite Reservoir, and low densities the Salmon River. Differences were detected in the length frequency distributions of white sturgeon in Lower Granite Reservoir, the free-flowing Snake River and the Salmon River (Chi-Square test, P<0.05). The proportion of white sturgeon greater than 92 cm (total length) in the free-flowing Snake River has shown an increase of 30 percent since the 1970's. Using the Jolly-Seber model, the abundance of white sturgeon <60 cm, between Lower Granite Dam and the mouth of the Salmon River, was estimated at 2,483 fish, with a 95% confidence interval of 1,208-7,477. Total annual mortality rate was estimated to be 0.14 (95% confidence interval of 0.12 to 0.17). A total of 35 white sturgeon were fitted with radio-tags during 1999-2002. The movement of these fish ranged from 53 km (33 miles) downstream to 77 km (48 miles) upstream; however, 38.8 percent of the detected movement was less than 0.8 km (0.5 mile). Both radio-tagged fish and recaptured white sturgeon in Lower Granite Reservoir appear to move more than fish in the free-flowing segment of the Snake River. No seasonal movement pattern was detected, and no movement pattern was detected for different size fish. Analysis of the length-weight relationship indicated that white sturgeon in Lower Granite Reservoir had a higher relative weight factor than white sturgeon in the free-flowing Snake River. The results suggest fish are currently growing faster than fish historically inhabiting the study area, as well as other Columbia River basin white sturgeon populations. Artificial substrate egg mats documented white sturgeon spawning in four consecutive years. A total of 49 white sturgeon eggs were recovered in the Snake River from 1999-2002, and seven from the Salmon River during 2000.
143rd Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, Sep 9, 2013
ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for i... more ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of human development (dam construction and habitat destruction). In the past twenty years hatcheries have evolved to meet both conservation and harvest objectives. Multiple expert panel reviews have produced generalized management principles for hatcheries aimed to minimize hatchery fish risks to natural populations. Recently two groups, the Hatchery Science Review Group (HSRG) and Hatchery Review Team (HRT), developed best management practice recommendations for hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. Even though the HSRG and HRT acknowledged that alternative actions exist and should be considered, policy and funding entities are considering adopting/requiring the HSRG and HRT recommendations. Many of the recommendations require additional funding for infrastructure modification and/or increased operational complexity. In most cases, implementing the full suite of best management principles (BMPs) is either cost prohibitive or logistically infeasible. Several common BMPs for recovering natural populations include: achieving 100% marking on hatchery production, implementing selective harvest regimes, maximizing natural origin fish utilized in hatchery broodstock, and minimizing hatchery fish on spawning grounds. Failure to fully implement one or all of these is commonly perceived as a death sentence for the natural population. We utilize ESA listed Snake River fall Chinook to explore “how good is good enough”? Only 50% of Snake River fall Chinook hatchery production is adipose fin clipped and 22% release unmarked; 30% or higher are subject to non-selective harvest; and utilization of natural origin fish in hatchery broodstocks was intentionally avoided for the first 30 years of the program. During the last ten years hatchery fish have constituted 67% of natural spawner escapement. Yet, natural origin abundance has increased 10 fold since the 1980’s. The current 10 year geometric mean of natural origin abundance averages 5,000 fish; exceeding the recommended ESA delisting abundance criteria.
The Lostine River Chinook Salmon Supplementation program began as a conservation effort in 1995 w... more The Lostine River Chinook Salmon Supplementation program began as a conservation effort in 1995 with the collection of juvenile Chinook salmon for a captive broodstock program. A conventional supplementation program began collecting adult broodstock in 1997 and phased out the captive broodstock program in 2010. The first priority of both supplementation programs was to increase the overall abundance of Chinook salmon returning to spawn. Smolt production is supported by the Bonneville Power Administration (conservation objective) and by the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (mitigation program). The hatchery program goal is to produce a total of 250,000 smolts to return 1,647 adults. Adult escapement (ages 4 and 5) prior to returns of hatchery-origin Chinook salmon ranged from 90 to 233 fish from 1997 to 2000. Hatchery-origin adult returns from 2001 to 2009 bolstered Chinook salmon adult escapement starting in 2001, ranging from 422 to 2,069 fish. Hatchery-origin adult returns have...
Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of... more Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of human development (dam construction and habitat destruction). In the past twenty years hatcheries have evolved to meet both conservation and harvest objectives. Multiple expert panel reviews have produced generalized management principles for hatcheries aimed to minimize hatchery fish risks to natural populations. Recently two groups, the Hatchery Science Review Group (HSRG) and Hatchery Review Team (HRT), developed best management practice recommendations for hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. Even though the HSRG and HRT acknowledged that alternative actions exist and should be considered, policy and funding entities are considering adopting/requiring the HSRG and HRT recommendations. Many of the recommendations require additional funding for infrastructure modification and/or increased operational complexity. In most cases, implementing the full suite of best management principl...
Fish management is becoming increasingly complex, with multiple stakeholders having influence on:... more Fish management is becoming increasingly complex, with multiple stakeholders having influence on: management decision making, management action implementation, and life stage specific fish survival mechanisms. The Nez Perce Tribe (NPT) is a stakeholder with treaty-reserved fishing rights. As a fishery co-manager, the NPT utilizes hatcheries as a tool to maintain harvest and restore healthy populations throughout its usual and accustomed area. Tribal policy success principles associated with the hatchery management tool include: fish on the table (or fish in nets), fish in the habitat, functional ecosystems, and ensuring active fish management role. Contemporary attributes of salmon and steelhead hatcheries in the Snake River basin will be described. 1) The social, cultural, and economic benefits of salmon and steelhead harvest are immense. 2) Hatcheries represent a promise – they are payment on the unfulfilled debt to mitigate for limiting factors (e.g., hydrosystem, habitat destruc...
For over a century, stocking of hatchery-produced salmon has been used in an attempt to augment t... more For over a century, stocking of hatchery-produced salmon has been used in an attempt to augment the number salmon and steelhead available for harvest in the Pacific Northwest commercial, sport and tribal fisheries, and more recently as a means to rebuild the abundance of depressed wild populations (supplementation). However, the benefits and potential for deleterious effects of hatchery actions on natural populations are critical uncertainties relative to the use of hatcheries for achieving management goals. A three-pronged approach has been developed to monitor and evaluate hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. The approach involves, 1) an investigation of the long-term trends in the abundance and productivity of supplemented populations relative to un-supplemented populations, 2) conducting a series of relative reproductive success studies to quantify short-term impacts, and 3) implementation of intensive studies designed to elucidate various biological mechanisms by which intro...
ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for i... more ABSTRACT Salmon hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest were originally constructed to mitigate for impacts of human development (dam construction and habitat destruction). In the past twenty years hatcheries have evolved to meet both conservation and harvest objectives. Multiple expert panel reviews have produced generalized management principles for hatcheries aimed to minimize hatchery fish risks to natural populations. Recently two groups, the Hatchery Science Review Group (HSRG) and Hatchery Review Team (HRT), developed best management practice recommendations for hatcheries in the Columbia River basin. Even though the HSRG and HRT acknowledged that alternative actions exist and should be considered, policy and funding entities are considering adopting/requiring the HSRG and HRT recommendations. Many of the recommendations require additional funding for infrastructure modification and/or increased operational complexity. In most cases, implementing the full suite of best management principles (BMPs) is either cost prohibitive or logistically infeasible. Several common BMPs for recovering natural populations include: achieving 100% marking on hatchery production, implementing selective harvest regimes, maximizing natural origin fish utilized in hatchery broodstock, and minimizing hatchery fish on spawning grounds. Failure to fully implement one or all of these is commonly perceived as a death sentence for the natural population. We utilize ESA listed Snake River fall Chinook to explore “how good is good enough”? Only 50% of Snake River fall Chinook hatchery production is adipose fin clipped and 22% release unmarked; 30% or higher are subject to non-selective harvest; and utilization of natural origin fish in hatchery broodstocks was intentionally avoided for the first 30 years of the program. During the last ten years hatchery fish have constituted 67% of natural spawner escapement. Yet, natural origin abundance has increased 10 fold since the 1980’s. The current 10 year geometric mean of natural origin abundance averages 5,000 fish; exceeding the recommended ESA delisting abundance criteria.
The Nimiipúu (Nez Perce people) have always co-existed with and harvested fish. Tribal philosophy... more The Nimiipúu (Nez Perce people) have always co-existed with and harvested fish. Tribal philosophy holds that the fish are as dependent on the Niimiipuu as the Niimiipuu are on the fish. One cannot exist without the other, without the purpose that each was put here by the Creator to accomplish. Today, the Nez Perce Tribe continues to harvest fish on reservation and in off-reservation “usual and accustomed” fishing areas now located in the present-day states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. This right of taking fish encompasses all aspects traditionally involved in the use and management of fish. The Nimiipuu retains the inherent authority to use and protect salmon and other important fishes. Our dependence on fish to meet dietary, spiritual, and basic subsistence needs is still a prevailing necessity of life for the Tribe and is protected by the Treaty of 1855. The Nimiipuu have sought to achieve a management system which recognizes the importance of exercising its fishing rights un...
ABSTRACT Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-82). Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University... more ABSTRACT Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-82). Thesis (M.S.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-82).
ABSTRACT The specific research goal of this project is to identify means to restore and rebuild t... more ABSTRACT The specific research goal of this project is to identify means to restore and rebuild the Snake River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) population to support a sustainable annual subsistence harvest equivalent to 5 kg/ha/yr (CBFWA 1997). Based on data collected, a white sturgeon adaptive management plan will be developed. This report presents a summary of results from the 1997-2002 Phase II data collection and represents the end of phase II. From 1997 to 2001 white sturgeon were captured, marked, and population data were collected in the Snake and Salmon. A total of 1,785 white sturgeon were captured and tagged in the Snake River and 77 in the Salmon River. Since 1997, 25.8 percent of the tagged white sturgeon have been recaptured. Relative density of white sturgeon was highest in the free-flowing segment of the Snake River, with reduced densities of fish in Lower Granite Reservoir, and low densities the Salmon River. Differences were detected in the length frequency distributions of white sturgeon in Lower Granite Reservoir, the free-flowing Snake River and the Salmon River (Chi-Square test, P<0.05). The proportion of white sturgeon greater than 92 cm (total length) in the free-flowing Snake River has shown an increase of 30 percent since the 1970's. Using the Jolly-Seber model, the abundance of white sturgeon <60 cm, between Lower Granite Dam and the mouth of the Salmon River, was estimated at 2,483 fish, with a 95% confidence interval of 1,208-7,477. Total annual mortality rate was estimated to be 0.14 (95% confidence interval of 0.12 to 0.17). A total of 35 white sturgeon were fitted with radio-tags during 1999-2002. The movement of these fish ranged from 53 km (33 miles) downstream to 77 km (48 miles) upstream; however, 38.8 percent of the detected movement was less than 0.8 km (0.5 mile). Both radio-tagged fish and recaptured white sturgeon in Lower Granite Reservoir appear to move more than fish in the free-flowing segment of the Snake River. No seasonal movement pattern was detected, and no movement pattern was detected for different size fish. Analysis of the length-weight relationship indicated that white sturgeon in Lower Granite Reservoir had a higher relative weight factor than white sturgeon in the free-flowing Snake River. The results suggest fish are currently growing faster than fish historically inhabiting the study area, as well as other Columbia River basin white sturgeon populations. Artificial substrate egg mats documented white sturgeon spawning in four consecutive years. A total of 49 white sturgeon eggs were recovered in the Snake River from 1999-2002, and seven from the Salmon River during 2000.
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