Sockeye Transboundary Collaborations developed through the Columbia Basin Accords Jeffrey K. Fryer, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Richard Bussanich, Okanagan Nation Alliance 2017 Washington-British Columbia Annual Meeting, April 12, 2017
What are the Columbia Basin Accords? Signed in 2008 as 10 year agreements (with funding provided by BPA) between federal agencies and the states and tribes Participants: States (Idaho, Montana, and Washington) Tribes (Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs, Colville, Kalispel, Shoshone-Bannock, and CRITFC)
CRITFC, Sockeye, and Me Came to the University of Washington PhD program in 1985 from University of New Brunswick (MSc(CS)). Ended up being the graduate student to be named later in 1987 as part of the deal that got CRITFC a Digital Equipment Corportation Micro-VAX at university pricing!
Bonneville, sockeye and scales Pacific Salmon Commission funded
Completed PhD Dissertation 1995
At CRITFC, not much had changed with regards to sockeye work
Development of PTAGIS opens up new opportunities Funded through PSC Southern Committee; following year summer Chinook PIT tagging funded through PSC Chinook Technical Committee
Trans-Boundary Meetings 1990 s-above Grand Coulee meetings Spokane (WDAFS) 2002: Developing an Ecosystem- Based Management Framework for Fish, Water, and Associated Habitat in the Okanagan Basin Penticton 2003: Making Ecosystem Connections: Partnerships for a restored Okanagan Basin Habitat Annual Bilateral Okanagan Basin Technical Work Group (BOBTWG) meetings since 2005
Map of Columbia Basin for U.S. Presentations-early 1990s Upper Columbia Basin Middle Columbia Basin Lower Columbia Basin
Map of Columbia Basin for Canadian Presentations Middle Columbia Basin Upper Columbia Basin Lower Columbia Basin
Map of Columbia Basin for U.S. Presentations-post ESA Lower Columbia Basin Middle Columbia Basin Upper Columbia Basin
Okanogan Basin-US Okanagan Basin-Canada
2008 Columbia Basin Accords between federal agencies and CRITFC Provided 10 years of funding for a project entitled Factors Limiting the Production of Okanogan and Wenatchee Sockeye Salmon
Sockeye Limiting Factors 250000 Sockeye counted at Bonneville Dam 1938-2007 200000 150000 100000 50000 0 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
What are limiting factors? Adult Survival? Juvenile survival or tributary issues? 2006 53.8% 81.1% 58.8% 84.8% 0% Est. Zone 6 Harvest 3.6% 503 tagged, 493 recovered 88.4% 0%
Wenatchee Sockeye Limiting Factors Good escapement estimates at Tumwater Dam for adults; perceived to have relatively pristine lake rearing and spawning environment. Hatchery program not doing well. Perceived limiting factors (and pie-insky solutions): Heavy bull trout predation in lake Bounty on ESA-listed species? Increasing rain-on-snow events scouring spawning grounds Big Dam? Unproductive oligotrophic lake Lake fertilization, close area sewage treatment plant?
Wenatchee Sockeye Data Needs Good estimates of number of smolt produced. Basic limnology/productivity data.
Okanogan Sockeye Limiting Factors Unknown mortality from Wells Dam to spawning grounds. What is escapement? Is there anything we can do about it? Warmest lake in Canada impact on both adults and juveniles
Emphasis on Upstream Migration of Okanagan Sockeye through PIT arrays and acoustic tagging at Wells Dam Better estimates of escapement. Better understanding of adult migration mortality. Issues: Big chunk of funds for subcontracts Spending in Canada (BPA/ONA/Biomark) No Canadian sites in PTAGIS. Subcontracting with CCT.
OKC PIT array constructed November, 2009
PIT tag antennas installed by Biomark at both Zosel Dam fish ladders in September 2010 (ZSL)
Acoustic and Temperature Tagging at Wells Dam (2009-2015)
2015 Okanagan Basin Acoustic Receiver Sites
Wenatchee Sockeye Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and later ONA, conducted two to five acoustic trawl surveys annually to estimate Wenatchee smolt abundance. Funded Yakama Nation to conduct limnology work in Lake Wenatchee with ONA training and analysis conducted in Canada by same technicians doing Okanagan Basin work.
Okanagan Juvenile PIT tagging First conducted in 2012 using Accords funding. Based on the success, Grant and Chelan PUDs contributed tags and funds beginning in 2013 with CSS also contributing tags. Becomes a standard CSS release group beginning in 2017.
Douglas, Chelan, and Grant PUD in Okanogan Douglas PUD funded innovative Okanagan Basin flow management tool. Chelan and Grant PUDs funded a sockeye hatchery in Penticton, have provided PIT tags, and contributed to habitat restoration work. CPUD, GPUD, DFO, ONA, and CRITFC (using Accords funds) are currently funding a paleolimnology study of Wenatchee, Osoyoos, and Skaha lakes being conducted at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.
Current PIT Tag Arrays in Okanagan Basin Penticton Channel 2017? SKA McIntyre OKC Now Double Array! ZSL Dam OKL (CCT)
Percentage of Sockeye PIT tagged at Bonneville and Wells dams detected at ZSL and OKC by date at Wells Dam in 2013 >= July 17 25% survival <= July 16 65% survival
2014 Survival of Sockeye PIT tagged at Wells and Bonneville dams to Zosel/OKC Fire and storms
Number of Bonneville Dam PIT tagged sockeye detected entering the Okanogan River (OKL) and at Zosel Dam by date in 2015 Overall OKL-ZSL 37.7% 15% 80% 80% 34% 59% 20% 40%
Sockeye Accords Project Successes PIT tag arrays: OKC as well as Skaha, Zosel and McIntyre dams. Adult acoustic tagging at Wells (2009-2015). Adult PIT tagging at Wells Dam. Tagging at Priest Rapids Dam (2012, 2015, 2016). 2013-2016 Juvenile PIT tagging resulting in Okanagan sockeye becoming a CSS group; ONA tag trailer (with PUDs). Wenatchee ATS and limnology work. Skaha Lake reintroduction and groundwork for Okanagan Lake reintroduction. Providing data for run forecasting as well as in-season harvest and Okanagan River flow management. Paleolimnology work in Osoyoos, Skaha, and Wenatchee lakes. Relationship built among DFO, ONA, Queens, CCT, YN, Biomark
Accords II? Accords projects were for 10 years (March 2018 for Sockeye). This has been extended one year by BPA. Ideas for Accords II(?) Further work on expanding Scokeye habitat in Okanagan Basin (Okanagan Lake, Kamakala Lake, and possibly others) [ONA, DFO] Expanded paleolimnology project to look at historical Sockeye production in known and potential Sockeye lakes. [Queens, DFO, ONA] Fill in holes in Okanagan Basin PIT tag network (Similkameen, Osoyoos Narrows) [ONA, DFO, CCT, Biomark/West Fork]
Acknowledgements BPA through the Columbia Basin Accords for funding this project. BPA COTRs (Maureen Kavanagh, Christine Petersen, Rick Golden, Joe Conner) CRITFC (Denise Kelsey, Melissa Holland, Doug Hatch, and many others) Okanagan Nation Alliance (Skyeler Folks, Howie Wright, Chelsea Mathieu, Amanda Stevens) Canada Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Kim Hyatt and Dan Selbie) Yakama Nation (Keely Murdoch and Kraig Mott) Confederated Colville Tribe (John Arterburn, Darrin Hathaway, Jennifer Miller, Sonya Schaller) Tom Kahler (Douglas PUD), Josh Marauskas (formerly Chelan PUD) Lots of CRITFC, ONA, CCT, and YN technicians who have worked on this project.