Lyons Ferry Complex Hatchery Evaluation: Summer Steelhead Annual Report 2004 Run Year

This annual report is one in a continuing series describing Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) progress toward meeting trout (resident and anadromous) mitigation goals established in the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP). The reporting period covers between 1 July 2004 and 30 June 2005. Smolt trapping information for the 2004/2005 emigration season will be presented in a future report, as population estimates were not completed at the time of report printing. Coded wire tag recoveries/expansions from the summer steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) sport fishery in the Columbia and Snake river basins will also be presented in future reports. In addition, we had anticipated a genetics summary of samples collected from natural origin Tucannon and Touchet rivers steelhead, compared to Lyons Ferry stock steelhead, but a delay in the analysis made the summary report unavailable to be included here. We anticipate that this summary should be available for the next annual report.

The LSRCP program in Washington State began in 1981 with construction of Lyons Ferry Hatchery (LFH). Refurbishing of the Tucannon Fish Hatchery (TFH) followed in 1984 to 1985. In addition to the hatchery construction and modifications, three remote acclimation ponds (AP) were built along the Tucannon (Curl Lake AP), Touchet (Dayton AP), and Grande Ronde (Cottonwood AP) rivers to acclimate juvenile summer steelhead before release. All of these facilities make up WDFW’s Lyons Ferry Complex (LFC) (Figure 1).