This report summarizes
the objectives, tasks, and accomplishments of the Tucannon River spring
chinook captive brood during 2001.
The WDFW initiated
a captive broodstock program in 1997. The overall goal of the Tucannon
River captive broodstock program is for the short-term, and eventually
long-term, rebuilding of the Tucannon River spring chinook salmon
run, with the hope that natural production will sustain itself. The
project goal is to rear captive salmon selected from the supplementation
program to adults, spawn them, rear their progeny, and release approximately
150,000 smolts annually into the Tucannon River between 2003-2007.
These smolt releases, in combination with the current hatchery supplementation
program (132,000 smolts) and wild production, are expected to produce
600-700 returning adult spring chinook to the Tucannon River each
year from 2005-2010.
The captive broodstock
program will collect fish from five (1997-2001) brood years (BY).
The captive broodstock program was initiated with 1997 BY juveniles,
and the 2001 BY fish have been selected. As of Jan 1, 2002, WDFW has
17 BY 1997, 159 BY 1998, 316 BY 1999, 448 BY 2000, and approximately
1,200 BY 2001 fish on hand at LFH.
The 2001 eggtake
from the 1997 brood year (Age 4) was 233,894 eggs from 125 ripe females.
Egg survival was 69%. Mean fecundity based on the 105 fully spawned
females was 1,990 eggs/female.
The 2001 eggtake
from the 1998 brood year (Age 3) was 47,409 eggs from 41 ripe females.
Egg survival was 81%. Mean fecundity based on the 39 fully spawned
females was 1,160 eggs/female. The total 2001 eggtake from the captive
brood program was 281,303 eggs.
As of May 1, 2002
we have 171,495 BY 2001 captive brood progeny on hand. A total of
20,592 excess fish were marked as parr (AD/CWT) and will be released
during early May, 2002 into the Tucannon River (rkm 40-45). This will
allow us to stay within our maximum allowed number (150,000) of smolts
released.
During April 2002,
WDFW volitionally released 3,055 BY 2000 captive broodstock progeny
from Curl Lake Acclimation Pond into the Tucannon River. These fish
were marked with agency-only wire tags and no fin clips in order to
differentiate them from the supplementation fish (CWT/Right Red VI/No
Finclip). Monitoring their survival and future releases to adult returns,
along with future natural production levels, will determine the success
or failure of this captive broodstock program.
