The use of hatchery fish to rebuild populations of Snake River

The use of hatchery fish to rebuild populations of Snake River
Sockeye Salmon in Idaho
Christine Kozfkay
Principal Fisheries Research
Biologist, IDFG
Co-authors:
Mike Peterson, IDFG
Dan Baker, IDFG
Implementation
 Cooperative effort
 IDFG
 NOAA
 ODFW
 SBT
 BPA
Sawtooth Valley lakes
 Sockeye Salmon are native
to 5 nursery lakes:





Redfish Lake*
Pettit Lake*
Alturas Lake*
Yellowbelly Lake
Stanley Lake
Sockeye Salmon Historical Abundance
 In the 1890’s, 150,000 fish
returning (Evermann
1896)
 Numbers declined
through the early and
mid 1900’s
 Between 1985 – 1989, 62
adults returned
cumulatively
 In 1990, no adults
returned
ESA listing decision
• In 1990, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe of Idaho petitioned
NMFS to list
 Spring, Summer 1991: IDFG collected Redfish Lake smolts
and anadromous adults that returned to initiate the captive
broodstock
• November 1991: ESU was listed as endangered
Captive Broodstock Development
Broodstock Collection (1991 – 1998)
• 16 wild sockeye (all that returned in ‘90s)
• several hundred out-migrating sockeye smolts (1991 – 1993)
• 26 “residual” sockeye salmon (1993 – 1995)
Broodstock & Production
Adults are spawned at the IDFG and NOAA
Captive Broodstock:
800 -1500 eyed eggs from IDFG
representing each subfamily are
kept at IDFG and NOAA and reared
to maturity.
Some may be released as adults
NMFS Manchester Research
Station
IDFG Eagle Fish Hatchery
Production: Remaining
eyed eggs from IDFG and NOAA are sent
to OFH, SFH, or SPFH and are reared to
release. Another group of eyed eggs may
be outplanted.
Smolts migrate to
the ocean
Adults return
from the
ocean
Initial Objectives of the Program
 Utilize Captive Broodstock Technology to avoid
extinction and “gene banking”
Successfully culture Sockeye Salmon
 Conserve genetic diversity
 Increase the numbers of individuals

Objectives of this study
 Evaluate different release strategies
 Use Parentage Based Tagging to determine age and origin of Sockeye
Salmon
 Compostion in anadromous return
 Productivity metrics (R/S, SARS) from hatchery and natural releases
 Describe the future direction of the program
“Spread the Risk” Release strategies
Redfish Lake
Redfish Lake Creek - Smolts
Salmon River - Smolts
Adult releases
Pettit Lake
Alturas Lake
Presmolts
Presmolts
Eyed eggs
Eyed eggs
Annual Release Numbers
400000
350000
300000
250000
Smolts
Presmolts
Eyed Eggs
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2,500.00
2,000.00
1,500.00
1,000.00
500.00
0.00
Captive Adults Released into RFL
Anadromous Adults Released into RFL
Marking of release strategies
Separate marks identified release strategies with the exception of offspring
from egg-boxes, adult outplants, and un-sampled natural spawners
BUT:
The HSRG “recommends that managers tag/mark all fish released by this
program”…. But “finding alternative means of identifying fish and
discontinuing the practice of ventral fin clipping” (HSRG 2009)
AND:
CWT can shed
Genetic Marking – No needs for marks
Advantages of genetic marking (PBT)
 Higher tagging rates than CWT (Steele et al. 2014)
 Less invasive (only need a clip or scales)
 Can be applied at any life stage
 Can address other questions such as heritability,
family correlated survival, lifetime reproductive
success
*Caveat – different families need to be kept separate for evaluations (cannot split eggs
into different groups) or marks are still needed.
In 2006, PBT was initiated
Starting in 2006 (BY03), every adult that spawned, released or an ocean
return was genotyped for pedigree analysis for the captive broodstock
2005
2006
2007
2008
Parents
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Offspring
So, jacks in 2009 and all adults returning in 2010 could be assigned an
age and origin (release strategy)
PBT Methods
Genotyped spawned and/or released adults w/ 9 – 16 microsatellite loci
Parentage analysis (Cervus 2.1)
Expand assignments based upon tagging rates or use age length key
(R – code, Ogle et al. 2013)
First Generation Returning Fish:
Calculate R/F
Calculate SARs
Adult Offspring Sampled
Anadromous Sockeye Returns
1,800
Natural Origin
Hatchery Origin
1,600
Number of Adults
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
Return Year
4,449 adults returned
Adult Spawners and Releases (PBT)
Year
Spawners
Released
2006
657
465
2007
574
497
2008
603
966
2009
593
1330
2010
546
1577
TOTAL
2973
4835
Tagging rates
 Tagging Rates were calculated by release strategy
and cross information and were greater than 95%
except one instance (2008 Release).
Assignment Results
(expanded by tagging rate)
Anadromous
Return year
Hatchery
Origin
Assignments
Natural Origin
Assignments
Overall
Assignment
Rate
2010
99%
86%
97%
2011
96%
67%
92%
2012
99%
67%
92%
2013
97%
32%
79%
2014
96%
82%
92%
R code was used to assign an age based on length data for un-assigned fish
Natural Returns
(not assigned after expansions)
Natural Sockeye Returns
600
80
Number of Adults
500
400
300
22
200
45
52
17
100
0
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
Return Year
Anadromous Sockeye Salmon Returns By
Release Strategy
1,600
1,400
1,200
Smolt Production
Pre-smolt Production
Natural Production
Unknown Marked
Unknown Unmarked
Egg Box
Number of Adults
Adult Release
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
Return Year
Recruits per female by strategy
5
4.5
4
RFL Natural
PTL/ATL Natural
Pre-smolts
Smolt Production
3.5
R/F
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
BY 2004
.
BY 2005
BY 2006
BY 2007
BY 2008
SAR for Redfish Lake
Estimated Emigration By Strategy
Estimated RFL emigration from pre-smolt releases
Estimated RFL emigration from smolt releases
Estimated RFL emigration from natural production
BROODYEAR
1996
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
152,322/28,435 39,870/16,612 61,804/15,164 62,015/16,857 57,093/13,544 34,561/5,704
81,615
86,052
101,676
150,395
173,055
179,278
2,799
5,609
6,088
6,338
4,822
12,558
Estimated Returns By Strategy
Estimated adult returns to RFL from pre-smolt releases
Estimated adult returns to RFL from smolt releases
Estimated adult returns to RFL from natural production
407,665 Pre-smolts planted
772,071 Smolts planted
32,214 Natural smolts produced in lake
1996
2004
42
186
10
5
289
48
BROODYEAR
2005
2006
24
57
746
1,101
87
202
177 adults back
3,395 adults back
424 adults back
2007
2008
36
853
34
0.04% SAR
0.44% SAR
1.32% SAR
13
220
43
SARs per release strategy
3.50%
3.00%
SAR's
2.50%
RFL Natural
PTL/ATL Natural
Presmolt
Smolt Production
2.00%
1.50%
1.00%
0.50%
0.00%
BY 2004
BY 2005
BY 2006
BY 2007
BY 2008
Kline and Flagg 2014
Next phase of the program
 Program has successfully met its initial objectives:
Staving off extinction
 Maintaining population diversity (Kalinowski et al. 2012, 95%)
 Increasing the size of the program in captivity
 Learned about success of release strategies and that captive fish
can reproduce in the wild

 Ready to move into the next phase:
Phase 2: Re-Colonization
Phase 2 Strategy
Release
Hatchery
Smolts
 Utilize the two
release
strategies that
provide the
greatest
demographic
boost and
increase
population
fitness
Produce
Natural
Smolts
`
`
`
Release
Adults into
Lake
Adults
Return
Phase 2
Initiate with development of expanded smolt program at
Springfield Hatchery (first release in 2015)
Springfield Hatchery – rear 1 million full-term smolts (~3X
the current numbers, 2017)
Phase 2 Goals/Triggers

Generate anadromous adult returns sufficient to meet broodstock and
escapement objectives

Increase population fitness
 Establish a self-sustaining anadromous broodstock and reduce reliance on captive
broodstock
•
Trigger 1: When 5-yr avg return > 1,000, begin to phase out NOAA
•
Trigger 2: When 5-yr avg return > 2,150, Eagle Hatchery terminated
•
Trigger 3: When 5-yr avg return of natural adults > 750, Reduce size of
hatchery program and intiate integrated broodstock
Expectations of strategy
1800
1581
35,000
Natural Origin
Hatchery Origin 1330
1,600
1,400
25,000
1,200
Number of Adults
30,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
190
166
5,000
800
600
600
465 498
231
400
170
200
0
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
0
2005
2009
2004
2007
2003
2005
2002
2003
2001
2001
1000
800
0
1999
968
2000
21
79
1400
1200
1,000
400
277
200
Anadromous Sockeye Returns
1600
Number of Adults Released into Redfish Lake
1,800
1999
Natural Smolt Outmigration from Redfish Lake
40,000
Return Year
May already be seeing benefits with record natural return in 2014 (BY2010)
Summary
 The program has been successful in achieving early goals of the
program


Prevented extinction
Maintained genetic diversity
 A phased approach to recovery is in place and the recovery plan has
been completed.
 Still challenges and uncertainties
 Expect to continue to see record returns.
Acknowledgements
Eagle Fish Hatchery Staff: Travis Brown, Ken Felty
NMFS Fish Hatchery Staff: Tom Flagg, Deb Frost, Carlin McCauley, Des Maynard,
Fisheries Research Technicians: Kurtis Plaster
Genetics Lab Technicians: Amanda Boone, Lizzie Parkinson, Grant Bruner, Bryan Ayers
Database Coordinatior: Jesse McCane
Sawtooth Fish Hatchery Staff
Springfield Fish Hatchery Staff
Oxbow Fish Hatchery Staff
SBT Tribe Biologists
IDFG HQ Staff: Dan Schill, Paul Kline, Jeff Heindel
BPA Staff: Jonathan McCloud
Many others…20 years of staff
Questions?