Record Snake River Sockeye Return Continues; 85 Fish Of ‘Natural Origin'

Captive Broodstock's Record Snake River Sockeye Return Continues; 85 Fish Of ‘Natural Origin'
Posted on Friday, September 25, 2009 (PST)

The modern-day record return of sockeye salmon to central Idaho's Sawtooth Basin continues to mount, though the appearance of spawners has slowed to a trickle.

Through Tuesday 787 sockeye had completed the 900 river mile trip from the Pacific Ocean. That total far exceeds the 650 spawners counted last year, then a record over the course of the Snake River Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Program. It was started in 1991 to head off extinction of a stock that had dwindled, literally, to zero.

From 1991 through 1998 only 16 ocean-going sockeye returned to the Idaho high country. In four of those years just a single spawner returned and twice the anadromous sockeye return was zero. All of those 16 fish were trapped to help provide the genetic foundation for the broodstock program.

The near-term goal of the program has been to use captive broodstock technology to conserve the population's unique genetics. Long-term goals include increasing the number of individuals in the population to address NOAA Fisheries Service's interim abundance guidelines and to provide sport and treaty harvest opportunity. NOAA Fisheries is the agency that in 1991 listed the Snake River sockeye salmon as Endangered Speciees Act.

Draft ESA delisting criteria for Snake River sockeye salmon includes the return of 1,000 adults to Redfish Lake, 500 adults to Pettit Lake, and 500 adults to Alturas Lake for two generations, according to a fact sheet produced by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, which heads the captive broodstock program.

The first seven hatchery-produced anadromous sockeye salmon from the program returned to the Sawtooth Valley in 1999 and 257 returned in 2000. But from 2001 through 2007 the annual returns ranged from three to 27 fish.

This year's return has included 244 trapped at a weir across the Salmon River near the IDFG's Sawtooth Hatchery and 543 were trapped in Redfish Lake Creek.

Most of the fish completed their trip in August. Only 15 arrived during the week leading up to Sept. 22, not counting 36 fish that had been stalled downstream of the Sawtooth weir. Fishery officials "rounded up" the delaying fish with seines and deposited them in nearby Redfish Lake.

Until Sept. 5 all (720 total) of the trapped anadromous sockeye were transferred to Eagle Fish Hatchery near Boise and held. Sockeye arriving after Sept. 5 are being released directly into Redfish Lake.

Genetic analysis was conducted on the fish held at Eagle to determine which fish to incorporate into the hatchery's captive broodstock. A total of 555 of the anadromous sockeye were returned to Redfish Lake and released on Sept. 8-9 to spawn naturally. They were joined by more than 600 spawners reared to adulthood at the NOAA Fisheries' Burley Creek Hatchery in Washington and at Eagle Hatchery.

The Redfish Lake Creek trap will remain in operation through mid-October. The trap at Sawtooth Fish Hatchery has been shut-down with the weir across the river remaining in place until the first week of October. If additional sockeye are observed below the Sawtooth weir, an effort will be made to seine the sockeye from the river and release into Redfish Lake.

This year's return included 85 "natural origin" fish. They included 74 that were trapped in Redfish Lake Creek and are the product of "residual" spawners or hatchery reared adults released into the lake to spawn. The 11 trapped at Sawtooth are the product either of residual adult sockeye spawning or of fertilized eggs that were planted in basin's Alturas and Pettit lakes. Residual sockeye, likely at least in part to be progeny of anadromous sockeye, are fish that opted not to journey to saltwater.

The majority of the sockeye returning this year are fish that were raised at Oxbow Fish Hatchery near Cascade Locks, Ore., and released as smolts in Redfish Lake Creek. Another 135 of the spawners were reared at Sawtooth Hatchery and released there as smolts and 81 of the returns were from smolts raised at Oxbow and released at Sawtooth.

There were 30 spawners that returned this year that were released as pre-smolts into Redfish, Pettit and Alturas lakes.

First off, who wouldn't be encouraged by the results, job well done.

Curiously, there's no mention of a reason for the radical increase in returns, or explanation of why the return rates struggled for long periods. Can we agree the success is largely due to favorable ocean conditions, and spawning habitat? It looks to the ignorant (RFA members), that we're entering a cycle of favorable environmental conditions. IIRC, LOF's link to this project sited some "other" influences that limited success. But, I can't find shit on this site because we jump all over the damn place on every thread... can you post that link again please LOF?

If we are in a favorable cycle, how do we use the successes and failures in regards to future fisheries? Am I the only one concerned that every positive study result from a favorable period will be the gospel of future proposals? Even if the exact opposite result was the norm for a down cycle, if it showed success during a positive cycle, it'll dictate the majority of future endeavors.

Do we adjust to manage for environmental cycles? Does the AH (Wizard of OZ) take them into consideration and magically poop out the correct adjustments?

I've found it helpful to expect the unexpected from the WDFW/NOAA alliance. I never underestimate their ability to do the wrong thing with the right facts. Am I paranoid or just incredibly well endowed?

Hairlipangler wrote:

Do we adjust to manage for environmental cycles? Does the AH (Wizard of OZ) take them into consideration and magically poop out the correct adjustments?

i dont know, i think the aha is a peace of shit

Upper Columbia watershed sockeye have been doing pretty well the past few years...happy to see it...hopefully we'll never have to read about "Lonesome Larry's" great great grand-sockeye being the last one, again.

This is one of those examples I've talked about concerning dire need rescue broodstocking...there were so few left that they had no choice but to take them into the hatchery or watch the last few go extinct right before their eyes. It's too bad it had to come to that, but I'm glad they seem to be moving in the right direction.

I think with the amount returning that run is still functionally extinct, but who knows? Stranger things have happened regarding steelhead and salmon in the past...the proof will be in the pudding if they are ever able to stop taking fish into the hatchery and let the population sink or swim on its own.

Fish on...

Todd