Lower Snake River Compensation Plan Lower Snake River Compensation Plan Hatchery Evaluations – Salmon RiverHatchery Evaluations – Salmon River

Project No. 200108Project No. 200108

Nez Perce Tribe Department Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resources of Fisheries Resources

ManagementManagement

LSRCP Program Mitigation Goal LSRCP Program Mitigation Goal South Fork Salmon RiverSouth Fork Salmon River

Adult Return Goal – 8,000 Adults McCall Production – 1 million

Smolts

Project GoalProject Goal

Monitor and evaluate the results of the LSRCP hatchery program so that operations can be adaptively managed

1) optimize hatchery and natural production

2) minimize deleterious ecological impacts

Project ObjectivesProject Objectives

Project coordinationPopulation status monitoringHatchery:natural composition and

age structure in natural production areas

Geographic genetic structure of subpopulations

Gene conservation efforts

Middle Fork Salmon River

South Fork Salmon River

Relationship to NMFS (2000) Relationship to NMFS (2000) Biological OpinionBiological Opinion Action 174: Determine relative distribution and

timing of hatchery and natural spawners. Actions 175, 177, and 178: Implementation of

safety net projects. Action 179: Establish recovery goals that

incorporate: genetic stock structure, demographic description, and spatial distribution.

Action 184 - Hatchery research, monitoring, and evaluation program consisting of studies to determine whether hatchery reforms reduce the risk of extinction.

Relationship to Salmon River Relationship to Salmon River Subbasin SummarySubbasin Summary

• Continue Lower Snake River Compensation Hatchery Monitoring and Evaluation to determine hatchery chinook and steelhead performance, natural production responses, competitive interactions, harvest management and provide for applied adaptive management (Section 5.4.2 - Fisheries/Aquatic Needs).

 • Continue and expand investigations of interactions between

hatchery and wild chinook, steelhead, and resident fish. • Quantify the types and extent (amount) of straying by

chinook and steelhead occurring within subbasins, within the Mountain Snake Province, and within designated ESUs.

Relationship to Salmon River Relationship to Salmon River Subbasin SummarySubbasin Summary

Conduct gamete preservation on all salmonids throughout the Salmon Subbasin.

 

Complete a province-wide chinook salmon genetic assessment that will provide a baseline for monitoring hatchery introgression into wild populations.

 

Define the metapopulation structure in the South Fork Salmon and Upper and Lower Middle Fork Salmon watersheds.

Summary of ApproachSummary of Approach

Salmon Spawning Ground Surveys– Population status– Distribution and relative abundance – Hatchery:natural composition in natural production

areas– Age structure to calculate spawner to spawner ratios– Determine sex composition– Estimate pre-spawning mortality– Dispersion of hatchery adults into other spawning

aggregates– DNA sample collection

Summary of ApproachSummary of Approach

Genetic stock structure within SFSR spawning aggregates– DNA analysis (microsatellite, nuclear,

mitochondrial)– Gene flow, genetic similarity– Spatial and temporal variation

Summary of ApproachSummary of ApproachPreservation of genetic diversity in the

Salmon River subbasin– Cryopreservation of adult male gametes

0

20

40

60

80

100

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

Year

Pe

rce

nt

Hat

che

ry (

%)

Weir to Unnamed Trib Poverty Flat/Lodgepole Camp

South Fork Salmon River Percentage Hatchery Origin Carcasses

Results to Date

0

3

6

9

12

15

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

Year

Pe

rce

nt

Hat

che

ry (

%)

Secesh River Johnson Creek

Percentage Hatchery Origin Carcasses in other SFSR Spawning Aggregates

Results to Date

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Year

Ag

e S

tru

ctu

re (

%)

1 Ocean 2 Ocean 3 Ocean

Annual Salmon Age Structure in the SFSRResults to Date

Results to DateResults to Date

Genetic Stock Structure in the SFSR– Sample collections initiated in 2000 in SFSR

(Stolle, McCall Hatchery broodstock, below weir, Poverty), Johnson Creek, Secesh River, and Lake Creek

– Sample collections to occur through 2005– Funding available in 2002 to begin DNA

analysis

Spawning Aggregate Number of Salmon Semen Samples Cryopreserved

Big Creek 82

Marsh Creek 37

Capehorn Creek 12

Johnson Creek 115

South Fork Salmon

McCall Hatchery

250

Lake Creek 60

Upper Salmon River

Sawtooth Hatchery

192

Pahsimeroi River

Pahsimeroi Hatchery

80

Results to Date

Gene Conservation Efforts – 1992-2001

Results to DateResults to Date

Minimum Conservation Adult Spawner Escapement– Necessary to maintain a naturally reproducing

population in nature (long-term population persistence)

– Maintains an adequate yearly effective population size (environmental stochasticity, loss of genetic diversity)

– Continuing adaptation and evolutionary processes

– Ecosystem processes

Conservation Goals

Expected ProductsExpected Products

Adult salmon population status over time (distribution and relative abundance)

Hatchery:natural composition in the mainstem SFSR Age structure and sex composition for run

reconstruction (spawner to spawner ratios) Spatial dispersion of hatchery adults in the SFSR Genetic stock structure of salmon subpopulations in

the SFSR Preservation of genetic diversity of subpopulations

at low levels of abundance

Expected ProductsExpected Products

Conservation framework for hatchery operation (adult sliding scale, broodstock selection and mating protocols, production program )

Establish conservation goals (minimum adult spawner escapement)