LOSTINE RIVER SUPPLEMENTATION PROGRAM

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LOSTINE RIVER SUPPLEMENTATION PROGRAM Overview
Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resources
Management
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Acknowledgements
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Grande Ronde Basin Spring Chinook Salmon
Populations
Lookingglass Fish Hatchery
Lostine River Weir
Wenaha River
Lostine River Smolt Trap
Lookingglass Creek
Wallowa/Lostine River
Upper Grande Ronde River
Wallowa Hatchery
Lostine River Acclimation
Minam River
Catherine Creek
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Background

• Low escapement levels and declining population
  trends indicated that Grande Ronde River basin
  spring Chinook salmon were in imminent danger of
  extinction.
• Management Action
• Two recovery strategies were employed using
  captive and conventional broodstock approaches.
• Broodstock collection for the captive program
  began in 1995 with the collection of parr from
  each of the three tributary streams
• The first collection of natural adults for the
  conventional program began in 1997 on the Lostine
  River and in 2001 for Catherine Creek and the
  Upper Grande Ronde River.

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Broodstock Strategies

• Captive Program
• Juvenile parr are collected annually from each
  stream for broodstock
• Broodstock are reared in culture until they
  reached adult maturation
• Mature fish are spawned and the offspring reared
  to pre-smolt in hatchery
• Pre-smolts are transferred to acclimation
  facilities on their respective natal streams,
  acclimated and released

• Conventional Program
• Adult broodstock are collected at weirs and
  transferred to hatcheries for spawning
• Offspring are reared in hatchery to pre-smolt
• Pre-smolts are transferred to acclimation
  facilities located on their natal stream,
  acclimated and released

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Program Purpose

• Restore and maintain a natural spawning
  population
• Re-establish historic tribal and recreational
  fisheries
• Establish a total return number of spring Chinook
  that meets the Lower Snake River Compensation
  Plan adult return goal
• Operate the hatchery program so that the genetic
  and life history characteristics of the hatchery
  fish mimic those of wild fish, while achieving
  management objectives

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Lostine River Adult Return Goals

• Short term - Preservation of population
• Maintain an annual escapement of 250 adults
• Mid term Restoration of population
• Achieve an annual escapement of 500 natural
  adults
• Long term Historical escapement/ harvest
• Maintain natural self-sustaining population of
  1,716 adults and achieve LSRCP hatchery-origin
  goal of 1,625 adults

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Lostine River Supplementation
Approach

• Produce 250,000 acclimated smolts at 20-25 fish
  per pound.
• 120,000 captive broodstock original target
• 130,000 conventional broodstock
• Use only Lostine River fish for broodstock
• Facilities
• Lookingglass Hatchery development of new adult
  weir and juvenile acclimation facilities on
  Lostine River
• Complete planning, design, permitting, and
  authorization of construction of Northeast Oregon
  Hatchery Lostine River Hatchery

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Lostine River Adult Weir
Lostine River Smolt Trap
Lostine River Acclimation
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• LOSTINE RIVER ADULT MONITORING FACILITY
• River mile 1
• Constructed 1997
• LOSTINE RIVER ACCLIMATION FACILITY
• River mile 12
• Constructed 1998

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Lookingglass Fish Hatchery
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Lostine River Acclimation Facility River Mile 12
Water source is pumped Lostine River
Operation period March-April
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Lostine River Adult Facility River Mile
1 Picture demonstrates average spring flows
Period of operation May-October
Picture demonstrates low flows that typically
occur in late summer
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Adult Chinook are trapped at Lostine River adult
weir and examined for biological data (May
October)
After examination fish are allocated via sliding
scale
Fish retained for brood are transferred to LGH
(100 miles) for spawning (AugustSeptember)
The resulting progeny are reared at LGH until
smolt (16 months)
Smolts are transferred from LGH to Lostine River
(135 miles) for acclimation (March-April) and
release Goal of 250,000 smolts
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Lostine River Sliding Scale Assumes a program
of 250,000 smolts 168 adults for broodstock.
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Lostine River Supplementation Program
Implementation
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Timeline for Lostine Supplementation Activities
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Fish Handled at the Weir and Escapement
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Broodstock Collection Summary
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Fish Marking
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Acclimation Period
February
March
April
1999
2000
2001
2002
Acclimation
2003 -Split
2004 -Split
Volitional
2005 -Split
2006 -Split
2007 -Split
2008 -Split
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Program design for Density Index Goals - 0.25 to
0.31
Recent management decisions were to reduce
Density Index goals to below 0.17 by splitting
acclimation into two separate periods
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Lostine River Size-at-Release
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Lostine River Smolts Acclimated Production Goal
250,000
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Fry and Parr Releases - Balancing Captive and
Conventional Programs
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Number of Hatchery Origin Adult Returns Per
Release
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Summary

• Conventional broodstock collected 1997, 2000-2008
• Captive broodstock production 1998-2008
• Smolt production and acclimation has ranged from
  11,738 to 250,248 average 162,373
• Obtained short term annual escapement goal of 250
  adults (2000-2008)
• Managed adult returns based on sliding scale
  management tool
• Captive broodstock program being phased out
• Current facilities - Lookingglass GH, adult
  facility and acclimation facility inadequate for
  program needs
• Harvest has occurred in limited numbers
  (2005-2008) first time in 30 years in Wallowa
  Basin

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Questions