Lyons Ferry Hatchery Evaluation: Fall Chinook Salmon Annual Report 2000

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Published: February 2003

Pages: 69

Publication number: Fish Program Report Number FPA 03-04

Author(s): Deborah Milks, Michelle Varney and Mark L. Schuck

Abstract

This report summarizes activities by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) Lower Snake River Hatchery Evaluation Program from April 16, 2000 to April 15, 2001. Fall chinook salmon broodstock were obtained from two sources: voluntary returns to the Lyons Ferry Hatchery (LFH) ladder and fish trapped and transported to LFH from Lower Granite (LGR) Dam. Only coded-wire tagged (CWT), blank wire tagged (BWT), or ventral fin clipped salmon were collected at LGR Dam and transported to the hatchery. Prior to spawning, fall chinook which volunteered into LFH were sorted to determine sex. At that time, 12 fish with visible implant elastomer (VIE) tags (indicating returns from upstream acclimated releases) were transported above LGR Dam and released in accordance with the Nez Perce Tribe’s (NPT) request. The total number of fall chinook processed at spawning in 2000 was 4,831, including 2,379 adults and jacks that had voluntarily returned to the hatchery, and 2,452 salmon transported from trapping operations at LGR Dam. There were an additional 272 fish that were sacrificed at LGR Dam for CWT recovery that will also be included in this report.

As in previous years, we were able to evaluate straying to the Snake River by using CWTs, BWTs, and ventral fin clips recovered from fish trapped at LFH, fish trapped and hauled to LFH from LGR Dam, and fish sacrificed at LGR Dam. In 2000, there were 249 strays processed at LFH. The majority of strays (240 fish) were from hatchery releases in the Umatilla River. There were an additional two hatchery recoveries from fish released in the Klickitat River. The remaining seven were strays from other locations.

In 2000, 21 coho (17 males and 4 females) were trapped incidentally at LFH. One fish was returned to the Snake River at LFH and two fish were transported above LGR Dam and released. Ten fish were transferred to the NPT and the remaining eight coho died before they could be transferred.

Fall chinook were spawned at LFH from October 24 to December 5, 2000. Peak of spawning was November 7 and 8. Coded-wire tags were removed from marked hatchery fish and read to determine the fish’s origin prior to mixing of gametes. We read 53% of the CWTs associated with red VIE tagged (known LFH) fish and 100% of the wire detected from other fish which were slated for spawning. Matings consisted of single female/single male lots with a backup male. Only salmon verified to be of LFH/Snake River origin were used for broodstock. All hatchery strays and unmarked fish were spawned together as �"strays.” In addition, CWTs were read from unspawned fish to determine their origin.

In 2000, egg take from all fish was 4,190,338. The final egg take from LFH/Snake River origin broodstock was 3,576,956 green eggs. As a precautionary measure, 53,176 green eggs from LFH/Snake River origin females which tested ELISA positive for Bacterial Kidney Disease were destroyed prior to eye-up. This left 3,523,780 green eggs available for production. At eye-up,3,365,268 eggs were picked and loss was estimated at 4.5%. On December 7, we transferred 115,891 eyed eggs to Idaho Fish and Game as part of the Idaho Power Company mitigation agreement. The estimated number of LFH/Snake River origin fry ponded was 3,158,689 fish. Stray or unmarked fall chinook from the 2000 brood produced 613,382 green eggs, 213,785 of which were destroyed. Loss to the eyed stage of the remaining 399,597 eggs was 2.9% leaving 388,157 stray origin eggs that were shipped to Klickitat Hatchery.

Sex, age, and mean length information was compiled for LFH/Snake River origin fall chinook salmon adults and jacks. These returns continued to be dominated by younger age classes. Females dominated the older age class of returning LFH/Snake River origin salmon because few males return at age 5 or older.

LFH released 196,643 subyearling (1999 brood) fall chinook salmon from the hatchery on May 26, 2000. Subyearling releases from LFH were 100% adipose clipped (marked) and coded-wire tagged. In addition, the NPT released 2,183,477 subyearling (1999 brood) fall chinook; two releases from Big Canyon and Captain John acclimation facilities, and a single release from Pittsburg Landing acclimation facility May 20 through June 26. Fish released from Big Canyon and Pittsburg Landing acclimation sites were not tagged or marked by the NPT. The early release at Captain John was 40% marked with CWT, but without an associated fin clip. The late release was 50% marked in the same fashion.

In 2001, all yearling fall chinook salmon released from LFH and the acclimation sites were adipose clipped (marked), coded-wire tagged, and elastomer tagged. During April 1-20, LFH volitionally released 338,757 yearling (1999 brood) fall chinook salmon from the hatchery. The LFH yearling release was tagged with a red VIE tag in the clear tissue behind the left eye (LR). Releases were delayed to synchronize with increasing flows in a drought year. The NPT released a total of 318,932 fall chinook yearlings (1999 brood) April 4-13, 2001 from acclimation facilities upstream of LGR Dam. Fish from Pittsburg Landing had right green (RG) elastomers, fish from Big Canyon had left green (LG) elastomers, and fish from Captain John had left blue (LB) elastomers. Also in 2001, subyearlings were barged from LFH to below Bonneville Dam, released from three acclimation sites above LGR Dam, and directly released into the Snake River below Hells Canyon Dam.

Surveys were conducted to count fall chinook redds in the Tucannon River. In 2000, we observed 19 redds (2.1 redds/km below Rk 9.6) and 18 carcasses. Five of the carcasses originated from Umatilla Hatchery, nine originated from Lyons Ferry Hatchery, and one was of unknown origin (skeletal remains). The Umatilla component was 27.8%, nearly a two-fold increase from what we have observed in the last two years. The remaining three fish were unmarked and of natural origin based on scale samples.

We are unable to account for 19.4 percent (3,196 salmon) of fall chinook escapement past Ice Harbor (IHR) Dam in 2000. These estimates are calculated as the difference between the number of fish crossing IHR Dam and the numbers of fish entering LFH, spawning in the Tucannon River, and counted at LGR Dam.

Recommendations for the future:

1) pursue more aggressive hazing to deter/decrease the avian predation before tagging occurs in September;

 2) pursue additional funding to build additional raceways or rearing ponds at LFH to address fish density and fish health concerns;

3) propose outlets for additional fish produced at LFH like a direct stream release of subyearlings paired with the release of subyearlings out of Captain John acclimation facility to compare survival between release strategies, or encourage IDFG and Idaho Power Company to aggressively develop Oxbow Hatchery for future chinook releases;

4) look at ways to reduce the incidence of BKD at LFH;

5) summarize adult returns for LFH origin fall chinook beginning with the 1990 brood released at LFH and include in a future (2001) report;

6) complete a cooperative report with fall chinook co-managers in the Snake River basin to determine the effectiveness of programs to meet LSRCP goals and assess the success of each release site by looking at smoltto- adult survivals;

7) discontinue ATPase and Cortisol sampling until the existing data has been summarized in an upcoming (2002) report;

8) examine the size, time, and type of release that may be causing excess jacks; and

9) summarize adult and jack return data by release type to evaluate age and sex composition.