Hood Canal Steelhead Project A conservation hatchery experiment Joy Lee Waltermire
Cooperating Project Partners: NOAA: NWFSC Behavioral Ecology Team Long Live the Kings WA Department of Fish and Wildlife US Fish and Wildlife Service Skokomish Tribe Point No Point Treaty Tribes Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group US Forest Service Hood Canal Private Landowners
How did the project come to be? Hamma Hamma Steelhead Supplemenation Project (1998-2007): Efforts responding to population on extinction vortex in the Hamma Hamma River. May 2007: Puget Sound (Hood Canal) steelhead listed as threatened on the Endangered Species Act. Hatchery Scientific Review Group: Use hatcheries as a tool for recovery and conservation.
Hood Canal Steelhead Project Goals Can artificial propagation be utilized to increase a wild population s abundance and productivity over the long term while preserving the genetic, demographic, and life history traits of the population? Oncorhynchus Mykiss
Conservation Hatchery Experiment Replicated, before-during-after-control-impact experiment (RBACI) Pre-supplementation During Supplementation Post-supplementation Response variables = Spawner abundance and spawn timing Freshwater productivity (egg to smolt) Natural spawners Cultured spawners F 1 Cultured F 1 + F 2 Cultured Life history diversity Embryo collections Genetic variation Local adaptation Early marine survival
Project streams Supplemented: Dewatto, Duckabush & SF Skokomish Rivers Control: Big Beef Cr, Tahuya, Little Quilcene & Dosewallips* Rivers Post-Supplemented: Hamma Hamma River
Hood Canal stream characteristics Dosewallips Duckabush Hamma Hamma L. Quilcene Big Beef Creek N Olympic Peninsula streams Bedrock/cobble High elevation High gradient Glacial/snow melt Anadromous barriers (except Skokomish) Kitsap Peninsula streams Skokomish Dewatto Tahuya Sand and gravel soils Low elevation Low gradient Low flow Rain and aquifers No anadromous barriers
Flow (cfs) Mean monthly streamflow Skokomish Dosewallips Hamma Hamma L. Quilcene Duckabush Dewatto Tahuya Big Beef Creek 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 L. Quilcene Dosewallips Duckabush Hamma Hamma Skokomish Tahuya Dewatto Big Beef Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Month Data from: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/wa/nwis
Temperature (C) 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Data compiled from WA State DOE and USGS Temperature L. Quilcene Dosewallips Duckabush Hamma Skokomish Tahuya Dewatto Big Beef January February March April May June July August September October November December Skokomish Dosewallips Duckabush Hamma Hamma L. Quilcene Dewatto Tahuya Big Beef Creek
How do we accomplish our goals? Redd and snorkel surveys conducted weekly throughout spawning season Eyed embryos collected Hatchery reared smolts and adults Smolt collections Summer parr sampling
Proportion of redds Proportion of redds observed Spawn timing 2007-2016 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% Big Beef Creek Dewatto Duckabush Hamma Hamma Little Quilcene SF Skokomish 0.50 0.45 0.40 0.35 0.30 0.25 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0.00 Kitsap Peninsula Olympic Peninsula 10.00% 0.00% January February March April May June July
Collecting eyed embryos
HCSP incubation and rearing facilities LLTK Lilliwaup Hatchery ( C) (C) Quilcene National Fish Hatchery WDFW McKernan Hatchery
Fish Culture and Release Strategies Sample fish quarterly to adjust feed schedule. Adipose fin clip parr. Release smolts at age-2. Release adults at age-4, or when mature, with external floy tags.
Smolt & Adult Release Totals SRG ARG River Brood Year Age-1 Age-2 Age-4 Age-5 Age-6 Total released Dewatto 2007 0 7,375 226 26 1 7,628 Dewatto 2008 0 6,807 0 0 0 6,807 Dewatto 2009 0 6,571 228 31 3 6,833 Dewatto 2010 51 4,905 0 0 0 4,956 Dewatto 2011 0 5,272 213 48 0 5,533 Dewatto 2012 0 6,183 0 0 0 6,183 Dewatto 2013 0 6,473 6,473 Dewatto 2014 0 4,239 0 0 0 4,239 Total 51 47,825 667 105 4 48,652 Duckabush 2007 0 1,574 164 45 0 1,783 Duckabush 2008 0 4,671 65 70 4 4,810 Duckabush 2009 0 0 0 0 0 0 Duckabush 2010 140 1,743 196 0 0 2,079 Duckabush 2011 0 2,550 0 0 0 2,550 Duckabush 2012 0 4,782 211 4,993 Duckabush 2013 0 4,713 0 0 0 4,713 Duckabush 2014 0 1,700 0 0 0 1,700 Total 140 21,733 636 115 4 22,628 Skokomish 2007 4,091 23,747 54 17 0 27,909 Skokomish 2008 200 20,529 0 0 0 20,729 Skokomish 2009 0 26,642 228 29 0 26,899 Skokomish 2010 0 23,989 0 0 0 23,989 Skokomish 2011 0 22,717 329 28 0 23,074 Skokomish 2012 0 27,258 0 0 0 27,258 Skokomish 2013 0 18,005 18,005 Skokomish 2014 0 14,769 0 0 0 14,769 Total 4,291 177,656 611 74 0 182,632
Proportion from anadromous mothers 86% (C) 96% Percentages of summer parr produced by anadromous mothers 94% 57% 41% 99% 99% 99% 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 Big Beef Cr Tahuya R Dewatto R Skokomish R Hamma Hamma R Duckabush R Dosewallips R Little Quilcene
Age-at-smoltification in Hood Canal steelhead populations 100% 90% n = 2-4 years per population 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% Age 1 2 3 20% 10% 0% Big Beef Dewatto Tahuya Duckabush Hamma Hamma Little Quilcene SF Skokomish Ageing: WDFW ageing laboratory
Annual Redd Abundance 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Dewatto River Duckabush River SF Skokomish Hamma Hamma River Big Beef Creek Tahuya River Little Quilcene River Last year of Hamma Hamma supplementation spawners First year of HCSP supplementation spawners
Annual Escapement 1400 1200 HCSP Supplemented Spawners 1000 800 600 Hamma Hamma Steelhead Supplementation Project Spawners 400 200 0 Dewatto Duckabush SF Skokomish Hamma Hamma Big Beef Cr. Tahuya L. Quilcene Supplemented Post-Supplemented Control
Monitoring and Evaluation Tools Weekly redd surveys Summer parr sampling Smolt trapping Adult sampling Acoustic Telemetry
Hamma Hamma steelhead supplementation project: Genetic diversity Summer parr N H o Alleles Rare alleles Unique alleles A r Mean Nb Wild fish before supplementation (1998-2001) 224 0.760 177 61 15 17.5 33 Wild + Hatchery offspring after Supplementation (2002-2004) 241 0.763 176 54 16 17.4 42 D. Van Doornik et al. 2010 CJFAS
Genetic structure of Hood Canal steelhead Olympic Peninsula Kitsap Peninsula Van Doornik et al. unpublished data
Parentage of BY2011 parr by ARG Dewatto N=42 45.2% 19.0% Duckabush N=40 35.7% SF Skokomish N=64 1.6% 4.7% 72.5% 20.0% 7.5% Two ARG Parents One ARG Parent No ARG Parents 93.8%
Parentage of BY2011 smolts by ARG Duckabush N=47 48.9% 29.8% 38.9% Dewatto N=18 16.7% 21.3% Two ARG Parents One ARG Parent No ARG Parents SF Skokomish N=26 11.5% 44.4% 88.5%
Adult offspring of ARG River Number of adults sampled Number of adults with 2 ARG parents Number of adults with 1 ARG parent Dewatto 6 2 0 Duckabush 9 1 1 Skokomish 19 0 1
Acoustic Telemetry Photo by Teresa Sjostrom Moore et al. in review
Percent survival Moore et al. 2010, 2012 Big Beef (Wild) Hamma (L-Hatch) Big Beef (Wild) Big Beef (Wild) Skokomish (Wild) Skokomish (Mc-Hatch) Big Beef (Wild) Duckabush (L-Hatch) Skokomish (Wild) Skokomish (Mc-Hatch) Big Beef (Wild) Skokomish (Wild) Skokomish (Mc-Hatch) 120 100 Early marine survival (release to Hood Canal Bridge) PR-RM (FW) RM-HCB 80 60 40 20 0 2006 2006 2007 2008 2008 2008 2009 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2010
Summary Hood Canal steelhead populations are diverse and adapted to local stream conditions Abundance has remained low since the 1990 s and has not recovered despite fishing closures Hatchery actions have been tailored to the local watershed and are being tested in an experimental way Initial results from the Hamma Hamma River suggest some improvement resulting from conservation hatchery practices.the rest remains to be seen.
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