EVALUATION OF THE SUMMER STEELHEAD ENDEMIC STOCK HATCHERY SUPPLEMENTATION PROGRAM

2011 ANNUAL REPORT

Prepared by: Joseph D. Bumgarner Jerry T. Dedloff

Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife Fish Program, Science Division Hatchery / Wild Interactions Unit Snake River Lab Dayton, WA 99403

Prepared For U.S. Department of Energy Bonneville Power Administration Environment, Fish and Wildlife Portland, OR 97208

BPA Project Number 2010-050-00 Intergovernmental Contract No. 00053444 and No. 0057970 Budget and Performance Period of 6/01/11 through 12/31/12

March 25, 2013

Acknowledgements

We thank the Bonneville Power Administration for funding this project and extend our appreciation to the employees of Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Snake River Lab, the Wenatchee Field Office, and District 1 Fish Management staff for their help in building and deployment of three additional PIT Tag Arrays in the Tucannon River. Lyons Ferry and Tucannon Fish hatchery staff were responsible for the rearing and release of the hatchery steelhead, we thank them in their efforts for rearing a high quality steelhead smolt for this program.

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Abstract

The 2008 Biological Opinion by NOAA Fisheries, RPA 40.2 states that the Tucannon River endemic steelhead hatchery supplementation program should be implemented, and in 2010 WDFW and the co-managers adopted that recommendation. A primary goal of this hatchery supplementation program will be to increase the total abundance of spawning steelhead (of the appropriate stock) and for the long-term conservation of natural origin summer steelhead in the Tucannon River. A second goal of the program is to provide harvest as part of the LSRCP mitigation program in the Tucannon River once the hatchery program is expanded to full production (150,000 smolts annually).

To determine if the supplementation program goals are being achieved some level of monitoring and evaluation must occur, hence this project was initiated. Results from this monitoring and evaluation will provide managers with the necessary data to make future program changes (i.e., numbers of fish, release locations, harvest rules, etc.). Therefore, the primary goal of this project is to monitor and evaluate the status and trends of both natural and hatchery origin summer steelhead in the Tucannon River. Project objectives covered during the contract period included 1) Install three full-stream PIT Tag Antenna Arrays in the Tucannon River, 2) Contract the PIT Tagging of 15,000 Tucannon River endemic hatchery steelhead, and 3) Administer the BPA contract.

A total of 18 PIT tag antennas were constructed and deployed at three separate sites on the Tucannon River. All three sites generally had continuous operation during the contract period. Power supple the tag reader (MUX) was lost on a few occasions, but quickly rectified with minimal data lost. High stream flows and debris during the spring of 2012 damaged or broke loose some of the antennas, yet due to site configuration (multiple rows of antennas), individual array efficiencies were high (90% at MTR, 96% at UTR, and 77% at TFH). Adult and juvenile salmonids with PIT tags were detected at all three arrays, though the degree of detections varied within the watershed, with most of the adults detected at MTR, and most of the juveniles (spring Chinook and steelhead) detected at TFH.

Escapement estimates and gross distributions of summer steelhead within the Tucannon River by origin (natural origin, Tucannon River hatchery endemic stock, and Lyons Ferry stock released into the Tucannon River) were estimated. Total steelhead escapement for 2012 is incomplete as other stocks of steelhead (hatchery and wild origin) were detected at the array sites.

Project staff coordinated the PIT tagging of Tucannon River endemic hatchery steelhead at Lyons Ferry Hatchery. Release information was documented and detection of PIT tags to juvenile collections sites in the Snake and Columbia rivers were documented.

Project staff worked with BPA staff to ensure environmental compliance needs, quarterly status reports, and a statement of work for 2013 activities, were completed on time or as needed by BPA.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements...... i Abstract...... ii List of Figures...... iii List of Tables...... iv List of Photos...... iv Introduction...... 1 Description of Project Area...... 3 Objective 1...... 4 Middle Tucannon River (MTR)……………………………………..…………… 5 Upper Tucannon River (UTR)…………………………………………………… 7 Tucannon Fish Hatchery (TFH)…………………………………….…..……… 10 PIT Tag Detection Summary………………………………………………..….. 12 Objective 2...... 14 Objective 3...... 16 References ...... 17

List of Figures

Figure 1. Location of the Tucannon River, and Lyons Ferry and Tucannon Hatcheries within the Snake River Basin...... 4

Figure 2. Site configuration of PIT Tag antennas at the MTR site in the Tucannon River, 2011……………………………………………………………..…… 6

Figure 3. Site configuration of PIT Tag antennas at the UTR site in the Tucannon River, 2011……………………………………………………..……….. 9

Figure 4. Site configuration of PIT Tag antennas at the TFH site in the Tucannon River, 2012………………………………………………...………….. 12

Figure 5. Length frequency distribution of hatchery origin Tucannon River summer steelhead tagged at the WDFW Lyons Ferry Hatchery, January 2012…...… 14

List of Tables

Table 1. Detections of PIT tagged salmonids (adult or juvenile) during the project period at the Middle Tucannon River (MTR) array site……………...………. 7

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Table 2. Detections of PIT tagged salmonids (adult or juvenile) during the project period at the Upper Tucannon River (UTR) array site…………………….….. 9

Table 3. Detections of PIT tagged salmonids (adult or juvenile) during the project period at the Tucannon Fish Hatchery (TFH) array site…………………….. 12

Table 4. Estimated mean detection efficiencies of summer steelhead for four Tucannon River PIT Arrays, fall 2011 and spring 2012………………..…………… 13

Table 5. Number (% of group) of adult summer steelhead by stock within each defined zone of the Tucannon River based on PIT Arrays and detections during the 2011 run year…………………………………….…………… 13

Table 6. Summer steelhead smolt releases into the Tucannon River from Lyons Ferry Complex, 2012…………………………………………….…………… 15

Table 7. Mean fork length, weight, condition factor (K), co-efficient of variation (CV), fish per pound (FPP), and the percent of visually apparent precocious mature males for steelhead released into the Tucannon River, 2012………………………………………….…………… 15

Table 8. The number, percent of release, and mean detection date of PIT tagged Tucanon River endemic stock summer detected while migrating downstream to the ocean from the 2012 release…………………………….………. 15

List of Photos

Photo 1. Preliminary design/construction of a PIT Tag Antenna…………………………...... 5

Photo 2. Deployment of finished antenna to Tucannon River bottom at the Middle Tucannon River (MTR) site………………………………………..……….… 5

Photo 3. Middle Tucannon River Site (MTR)…………………………………………………... 6

Photo 4. Upper Tucannon River PIT Array (UTR)…………………..………………..………... 8

Photo 5. Tucannon Fish Hatchery PIT Array (TFH)………………………...………....……… 10

Photo 6. Tucannon Fish Hatchery PIT Array (TFH) MUX storage box……………....………. 11

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Introduction

The 2008 Biological Opinion by NOAA Fisheries, RPA 40.2 states that the Tucannon River endemic steelhead hatchery supplementation program should be implemented. Following a 10- year evaluation of the endemic stock test program in the Tucannon River, WDFW, Lower Snake River Compensation Program (LSRCP), and the and Umatilla tribal co-managers agreed to implement the endemic steelhead supplementation program in 2010. Concurrent with that decision, releases of Lyons Ferry stock steelhead (harvest mitigation for the LSRCP) into the Tucannon River were stopped. These actions were consistent with, and suggested by, the recent HSRG (2009) and HRT (2009) hatchery reviews. Changes to the hatchery program will require some modifications and/or additions to rearing space at Lyons Ferry Hatchery (these were expected to occur by the end of 2012). Expected facility modification will occur through agreements with LSRCP and BPA in another forum.

A primary goal of this hatchery supplementation program will be to increase the total abundance of spawning steelhead (of the appropriate stock) and for the long-term conservation of natural origin summer steelhead in the Tucannon River. A second goal is to provide harvest as part of the LSRCP mitigation program in the Tucannon River once the hatchery program is expanded to full production (150,000 smolts annually). As part of that expansion, and in order to control the number of hatchery origin fish on the spawning grounds, up to two-thirds of the hatchery fish will be marked for harvest mitigation within the Tucannon River (this will count towards LSRCP mitigation goals), with one-third remaining unmarked for continued direct supplementation of the natural population. Since the endemic hatchery program has been developed from natural origin returns and will continue to use natural origin returns in the broodstock, those fish destined for harvest but escape the fishery, will be of the appropriate stock and may lessen any negative effects on the natural population.

This project was initiated to provide a level of monitoring and evaluation sufficient to determine if the supplementation program goals are being achieved. Results from this monitoring and evaluation will provide managers with the necessary data to make future program changes (i.e., numbers of fish, release locations, harvest rules, etc.). Therefore, the primary goal of this project is to monitor and evaluate the status and trends of both natural and hatchery origin summer steelhead in the Tucannon River. Based on the recommendations from the Ad Hoc Supplementation Work Group (2008), WDFW will use standardized methodologies as developed by the CSMEP process (2004) for monitoring the status and trends of both the natural and hatchery returns, in-hatchery monitoring/success, VSP parameter monitoring, determining hatchery program success in relation to production goals, and determining stray rates. As part of the status and trends analysis using specific metrics, WDFW will utilize data collected by the Asotin Creek Assessment Project (BPA #2002-053-00 – Crawford et. al. 2012) as a reference stream (non-supplemented) for comparison. Asotin Creek will provide the best comparison as the two streams are similar in size and structure, and geographically located near each other.

Tucannon River Summer Steelhead Endemic Supplementation Program – FY 2011 Annual Report 1

Other steelhead populated streams in the region (i.e. Touchet River) may also be used as reference to track regional abundance and productivity trends.

WDFW has identified four main objectives for this project. However, due to a delay in submission and acceptance of Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans for ESA coverage to NOAA Fisheries, many aspects of this monitoring plan were delayed until ESA coverage could be obtained. Letters of Submission from NOAA Fisheries were provided to BPA, but due to the timing of getting this ESA coverage, and the quickly approaching spring field seasons, WDFW decided to forgo some of the ESA directed field activities until 2013. In the interim, WDFW proposed and completed the following non-ESA related actions during the contract period:

1) WDFW will construct and install three full-stream PIT Tag Antenna Arrays in the Tucannon River

2) WDFW will contract the PIT Tagging of 15,000 Tucannon River endemic hatchery steelhead that are currently being reared at Lyons Ferry Hatchery and will be released in the Tucannon River during the spring of 2012.

3) Administer the BPA contract.

Installation of the PIT Tag Arrays, or tagging of hatchery steelhead did not involve the direct "take" of listed salmonids, and was therefore authorized by NOAA Fisheries. Ultimately, data collected from the PIT Tag Arrays and PIT tagged hatchery steelhead from this program will allow WDFW to provide estimates of summer steelhead returns to the Tucannon River and will be used in the program evaluation under Objectives 1, 2, 3, and 4 (see below).

The following points describe aspects of the monitoring that will occur once the project is fully underway: 1) Document the change in productivity of natural origin steelhead within the Tucannon River based on estimated adult returns from PIT tags, 2) Estimate total adult steelhead returns (hatchery and wild origin) to the Tucannon River, 3) Estimate distribution of hatchery and wild origin spawners in the Tucannon River, and 4) Document in-hatchery survival performance of supplementation steelhead. Performance measures (both hatchery and natural origin summer steelhead) that will be monitored as part of this M&E program or the LSRCP M&E program include: 1) Abundance and productivity (adult escapement, fish or female/redd, redd counts, hatchery fraction, smolt abundance, smolt-to-adult returns, recruit/spawner ratio, 2) Distribution within the Tucannon River basin, and outside (stray rates), 4) Life History (age structure, age-at-return, age-at emigration, size-at-return, size-at-emigration, condition factors, percent adult female, adult run timing, spawn timing, smolt emigration timing, mainstem arrival timing [Lower Monumental], and 5) In-Hatchery (hatchery abundance, life stage survivals, size at release, condition factor, fecundity by age, spawn timing, hatchery broodstock fraction, hatchery broodstock mortality, length of spawners, pre-release mark/tag retention, hatchery release timing). Not all measures will be possible for both the natural and hatchery origin fish,

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as sampling limitations within the Tucannon River (i.e. steelhead redd surveys), may limit or preclude the estimates of certain measures.

This project supports BPA funded Fish and Wildlife Program strategies by providing data to monitor the status and trends of ESA listed fish populations within the Tucannon River and to assess their potential straying effect on other listed Snake River populations. This project directly supports BiOp RPA #40.2 (Implementation of Tucannon Endemic Steelhead Program), which will eventually increase the number of hatchery endemic stock fish into the Tucannon River for conservation and harvest mitigation purposes. Part of the monitoring to occur for this program will be to assess the hatchery effects to the natural population of steelhead within the Tucannon River. By PIT tagging hatchery and natural origin summer steelhead, and using PIT Tag Arrays to describe their returns to river, hatchery endemic stock effects to the natural population may be determined.

Description of Project Area

The Tucannon River empties into the Snake River between Little Goose and Lower Monumental Dams approximately 622 river kilometers from the mouth of the (Figure 1). Stream elevation rises from 150 m at the mouth to 1,640 m at the headwaters (Bugert et al. 1990). Total watershed area is approximately 1,295 km2. Local habitat problems related to logging, road building, recreation, and agriculture/livestock grazing have limited the production potential of both summer steelhead and spring Chinook in the Tucannon River, though many of these issues are currently being addresses through various habitat conservation programs supported by BPA. Land use in the Tucannon River watershed is approximately 36% grazed rangeland, 33% dry cropland, 23% forest, 6% WDFW, and 2% other use (Tucannon Subbasin Summary 2001).

The original Lower Tucannon PIT Tag array (operated under BPA Project 2010-042-00, Bumgarner 2012 and 2013) is currently located about ¼ mile below the LSRCP operated smolt trap where the natural-origin summer steelhead are tagged and released, or about 1.7 miles above the mouth of the Tucannon River. Proposed PIT Tag arrays for this project are to be added in at Rkm 19 (MTR=Middle Tucannon River), 44 (UTR=Upper Tucannon River), and 59 (TFH=Tucannon Fish Hatchery) (Figure 1). PIT Tagged hatchery steelhead from this project are to be released directly to the Tucannon River above Curl Lake Acclimation Pond at Rkm 66 (Figure 1).

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Existing PIT Array Proposed PIT Array Smolt Releases

Figure 1. Location of the Tucannon River, and Lyons Ferry and Tucannon Hatcheries within the Snake River Basin (Gallinat et al. 2010). Existing or proposed PIT Arrays, and summer steelhead smolt releases are indicted.

Objective 1: WDFW will construct and install three full-stream PIT Tag Antenna Arrays in the Tucannon River: During the project period, WDFW staff received instruction on the building and deployment of PIT tag antennas from WDFW staff in Wenatchee. A total of 18 antennas were built and deployed (Photos 1 and 2) during the project period, with additional antennas planned for the future (backups). The following sections will describe in more detail deployment and detections of PIT tagged fish at each of the locations.

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1 2

Photos 1 and 2. Preliminary design/construction of a PIT Tag Antenna (1), and deployment of finished antenna to Tucannon River bottom at the Middle Tucannon River site (2).

Middle Tucannon River Site (MTR)

Antennas for the MTR site (river kilometer 17.8) were anchored to the stream bottom in mid- September, 2011. A few more days were required to attach cables and to run the power supply to the box with the Destron Fearing FS1001M Multiplexor (MUX). The site has been operation since 21 September, 2011, with the first fish detected on 23 September, 2011. Site configuration is shown (Photo 3, Figure 2) with three rows of antennas consisting of two antennas/row. This configuration allows for a greater efficiency/probability to detect tags, and also for directionality (movement of fish upstream or downstream). During the reporting period, we did not lose any power to the site, but high stream flows during the spring of 2012 washed out two of the antennas (recovered), damaged another beyond repair, and another became unplugged and could not be plugged back in until stream flows receded in the summer. Even with some antennas not working, we detected over 581 PIT tagged juvenile fish (spring Chinook or summer steelhead) moving downstream over the site (Table 1), and 263 adult salmonids moving upstream over the site. Adult salmonids consisted of bull trout, spring and fall Chinook, Coho salmon, and summer steelhead, many of which did not originate from the Tucannon River.

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Antennas

Photo 3. Middle Tucannon River Site (MTR).

Middle Tucannon River Site - MTR Stream Antenna 2 – B2 Antenna 1 – B1 Flow

Antenna 4 – B4 Antenna 3 – B3

Antenna 6 – B6 Antenna 5 – B5

To MUX

Figure 2. Site configuration of PIT Tag antennas at the MTR site in the Tucannon River, 2011.

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Table 1. Detections of PIT tagged salmonids (adult or juvenile) during the reporting period at the Middle Tucannon River (MTR) array site.

Juveniles Adults Species Origin Release Site # of Species Origin Release Site # of Fish Fish BT BT W Little Goose Dam 1 W Tucannon River 6

F CH F CH U Columbia River 2 H Lyons Ferry 6 H Big Canyon Acc (Idaho) 1

SP CH H Tucannon R. – Curl Lake AP 174 SP CH W John Day River (Oregon) 2 H Tucannon R. – Curl Lake AP 30 W Tucannon River 4 W Lower Granite Dam 3 W American River (Idaho) 1

SUM CH SUM CH W Lower Granite 2

UNK CH UNK CH U Lower Granite 1 U Bonneville Dam 7 U Columbia River 1

COHO COHO U Kooskia NFH (Idaho) 2 U Lapwai Creek (Idaho) 3 U Columbia River 1

SSH H Tucannon River 431 SSH H/U Columbia River 7 U Bonneville Dam 27 W John Day River 1 H/W 18 H Touchet R. – Dayton AP 4 H/W Touchet River 9 H/W Priest Rapids Dam 7 W Lower Monumental Dam 1 H/W Tucannon River 72 H/U/W Lower Granite Dam 87 H Pahsimeroi River (Idaho) 1 H Sawtooth FH (Idaho) 1

Upper Tucannon River Site (UTR)

Antennas for the UTR site (river kilometer 44.5) were anchored to the stream bottom in mid- October, 2011. A few more days were required to attach cables and to run the power supply to the box with the Destron Fearing FS1001M Multiplexor (MUX). The first fish was detected on 25 October, 2011. Site configuration is shown (Photo 3, Figure 2) with a nearly identical site

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configuration to MTR. During the reporting period, power was lost for a few days, but during period when few fish appeared to be moving. But as with the MTR site, high stream flows during the spring of 2012 damaged two antennas (water leakage), another was damaged beyond repair, and another became unplugged and could not be plugged back in until stream flows receded in the summer. Even with some antennas not working, we detected over 1,391 PIT tagged juvenile fish (spring Chinook or summer steelhead) moving downstream over the site (Table 1), and 112 adult salmonids moving upstream over the site. Adult salmonids consisted of bull trout, spring Chinook, and summer steelhead, many of which did not originate from the Tucannon River. No fall Chinook or Coho with PIT tags were detected at this site.

Antennas

Photo 4. Upper Tucannon River PIT Array (UTR). Antennas are barely visible on the left side of the photo.

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To MUX Upper Tucannon River Site - UTR Stream Flow Antenna 2 –A2 Antenna 1 – A1

Antenna 4 – A4 Antenna 3 – A3

Antenna 6 – A6 Antenna 5 – A5

Figure 3. Site configuration of PIT Tag antennas at the UTR site in the Tucannon River, 2011.

Table 2. Detections of PIT tagged salmonids (adult or juvenile) during the reporting period at the Upper Tucannon River (UTR) array site.

Juveniles Adults # of # of Species Origin Release Site Fish Species Origin Release Site Fish BT BT W Little Goose Dam 1 W Tucannon River 2

COHO COHO H Kooskia NFH (Idaho) 1

SPCH H Tucannon R. – Curl Lake AP 547 SPCH H Tucannon R. – Curl Lake AP 8 U Bonneville Dam 1 U Columbia River 1 W John Day River 1 W/U Lower Granite Dam 4 W Tucannon River 1

SSH H Tucannon River 883 SSH H/U Columbia River 2 U Bonneville Dam 7 W Walla Walla River 2 H/W Touchet River 5 W Priest Rapids Dam 1 H/W Tucannon River 31 H/U/W Lower Granite Dam 44 H Sawtooth Hatchery 1

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Tucannon Fish Hatchery Site (TFH)

Antennas for the TFH site (river kilometer 59.2) were anchored to the stream bottom late January, 2012. A few more days were required to attach cables and to run the power supply to the box with the Destron Fearing FS1001M Multiplexor (MUX). The site has been operation since late January 2012, with the first fish detected on 4 February, 2012. Site configuration is shown (Photo 3, Figure 2) with a slightly different site configuration compared to MTR and UTR, primarily due to stream width at the site. During the reporting period, power was lost for a few days, and some PIT tagged fish were able to pass without detection. This is known because these fish were detected as being passed at the Tucannon Adult Trap located about 50 meters downstream. Similar to the other sites, high stream flows during the spring of 2012 damaged one antennas (water leakage), and another broke loose (recovered), and another became unplugged for a short period of time, but was eventually re-plugged and worked the remainder of the season. Even with some antennas not working and a few events of power outage, we detected over 5,876 PIT tagged juvenile fish (spring Chinook or summer steelhead) moving downstream over the site (Table 1), and 29 adult salmonids moving upstream over the site. Adult salmonids consisted of bull trout, and summer steelhead. No spring or fall Chinook or Coho adult salmon with PIT tags were detected at this site.

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Photo 5. Tucannon Fish Hatchery PIT Array (TFH).

Photo 6. Tucannon Fish Hatchery PIT Array (TFH) MUX storage box. Note: The Tucannon FH Adult Trap/Hatchery Water Intake is visible in the background.

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Tucannon Fish Hatchery Site - TFH Stream Antenna 2 – F2 Flow Antenna 3 – F3 Antenna 1 – F1

Antenna 5 – F5

Antenna 6 – F6 Antenna 4 – F4

To MUX

Figure 4. Site configuration of PIT Tag antennas at the TFH site in the Tucannon River, 2012.

Table 3. Detections of PIT tagged salmonids (adult or juvenile) during the reporting period at the Tucannon Fish Hatchery (TFH) array site. Juveniles Adults # of # of Species Origin Release Site Fish Species Origin Release Site Fish BT BT W Tucannon River 2 W Little Goose Dam 1

SPCH H Tucannon R. – Curl Lake AP 4054 SPCH H Tucannon R. – Curl Lake AP 3 W Lower Granite Dam 1

SSH H Tucannon River 1877 SSH H Columbia River 1 U Bonneville Dam 2 H Touchet River 2 W Priest Rapids 1 H Tucannon River 16 W Lower Granite 7

PIT Tag Detection Summary – Summer Steelhead

The primary purpose of the PIT tag arrays on the Tucannon River is for detection and eventual estimation of adult summer steelhead (hatchery and wild origin) escapement into the Tucannon River. During the project period, many adult steelhead were detected at the sites, of which we were able to make calculations of array efficiencies (Table 4), distributions of fish within the Tucannon River and escapement (Table 5). Given the high stream flows experienced in 2012, and occasional loss of power to some of the sites, overall PIT Array efficiencies were high, and as such, we have good confidence in the estimates of escapements provided.

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However, as observed in the detections at each of the array sites (Tables 1, 2 and 3), many other stocks/populations of steelhead from other river systems or hatcheries are straying into the Tucannon River. The estimates provided in Table 5 are only for steelhead the originated in the Tucannon River or were released into the Tucannon River from Lyons Ferry Hatchery or Tucannon Hatchery, and we can readily expand the observed detections by the mark rate of juveniles at time of tagging. While it will be possible to obtain PIT tag mark rate information for these other groups, the information could not be compiled in time for the completion of this report. Additional estimates of escapement by river reach will be provided in future reports.

Table 4. Estimated detection array efficiencies for adult summer steelhead at four Tucannon River PIT Arrays for the 2011 run year (fall 2011 to spring 2012).

LTR MTR UTR TFH TOTAL PIT Steelhead Passed 260 200 89 35 Detected at Site 224 179 85 27 % Array Efficiency 86% 90% 96% 77%

Table 5. Number (% of group) of adult summer steelhead by stock within each defined zone of the Tucannon River based on PIT Arrays and detections during the 2011 run year. Note: The number of fish were calculated based on tag rates and expanded by array efficiencies by stock at each location.

# of Steelhead # of Steelhead # of Steelhead # of Steelhead Total # of a from LTR to MTR from MTR to UTR from UTR to TFH Above TFH Steelhead

Lyons Ferry Stock 360 (38.6) 542 (58.2) 30 (3.2) 0 (0.0) 932

Endemic Stock 0 (0.0) 95 (25.6) 50 (13.5) 226 (60.9) 371

Wild Stock 33 (12.1) 116 (42.3) 83 (30.3) 42 (15.3) 274 a Totals shown represent only those fish that originated from the Tucannon River (wild fish tagged at the Tucannon River smolt trap, and hatchery fish released into the Tucannon River). It does not include hatchery or wild fish that originated from or were released at other locations.

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Objective 2: PIT Tag Tucannon River Hatchery Origin Summer Steelhead: This project will purchase 15,000 PIT tags annually for hatchery origin summer steelhead tagging at Lyons Ferry FH prior to release of smolts. This project will also provide the funds to contract with Biomark, Inc. to insert the PIT Tags into the summer steelhead smolts at Lyons Ferry Hatchery prior to release.

During the project period, WDFW arranged with BPA to purchase 15,000 PIT tags that would be inserted into hatchery origin Tucannon River summer steelhead at Lyons Ferry Fish Hatchery. WDFW and Biomark reached an agreed tagging cost and Biomark performed the tagging in January 2012. Tagging methods and data recording protocols by Biomark can be found at http://www.biomark.com/biological_services/methods/. Tagging operations went as planned. As part of their regular tagging activities, Biomark collected a length from nearly every fish tagged, and this data was provided to WDFW (Figure 5). At the conclusion of tagging activities, Biomark provided the necessary data files to WDFW for uploading into PTAGIS. These files were uploaded after the total release of fish occurred and mortalities were removed from the tagging files.

PIT Tagged Tucannon River Summer Steelhead 1,600

1,400 N=14,834 1,200

1,000

800

600 Number of Fish 400

200

0

90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 Fork Length (mm)

Figure 5. Length frequency distribution of hatchery origin Tucannon River summer steelhead tagged at the WDFW Lyons Ferry Hatchery, January 2012.

As part of the standard Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP) monitoring of juvenile steelhead releases from Lyons Ferry or Tucannon hatcheries, staff collect biological data for each release group. While not directly funded under this project in 2012, we provide the information from the LSRCP monitoring of the Tucannon hatchery endemic steelhead stock (Tables 6 and 7).

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Monitoring of future releases and survival information of this stock in the hatchery will be reported in future reports.

Table 6. Summer steelhead smolt releases into the Tucannon River from Lyons Ferry Complex, 2012.

Total AD-only CWT CWT Other PIT Size CWT Location Rkm Date release release release code marks Tags Lbs #/lb % Loss Tucannon River @ 66.5 4/17- 51,124 1,203 49,921 636086 15,000 11,114 4.6 2.3529 Curl Intake 4/20

Table 7. Mean fork length, weight, condition factor (K), co-efficient of variation (CV), fish per pound (FPP), and the percent of visually apparent precocious mature males for steelhead released into the Tucannon River, 2012. Sample Sample size Avg LN Avg WT Percent Location (Stock) Date (n) (mm) (g) K CV FPP precocious Tucannon (Endemic) 4/12-19 403 198.8 98.9 1.16 16.6 4.6 0.0

PIT tagged juvenile steelhead from this project were monitored following from detections at instream arrays or from monitoring facilities on the Snake and Columbia River mainstem dams (Table 8). Detection rates presented here are not an indication of survival, as detections are influenced by 1) stream flow, 2) amount of spill at the dams, and 3) configuration of the mainstem dam bypass facilities.

Table 8. The number, percent of release, and mean detection date of PIT tagged Tucanon River endemic stock summer detected while migrating downstream to the ocean from the 2012 release.

Number of unique fish Percent of unique fish Mean date of fish Detection site detected detected detected Tucannon River 4,944 33.1% 5/13 Lower Monumental Dam 2,267 15.2% 5/22 Ice Harbor Dam 1,219 8.2% 5/23 McNary Dam 903 6.0% 5/25 John Day Dam 640 4.3% 5/28 Bonneville Dam 387 2.6% 5/31

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Objective 3: Administer the BPA Contract: Project staff worked with BPA staff to ensure environmental compliance needs, quarterly status reports, and a statement of work for FY2012 activities, were completed on time or as needed by BPA.

Project staff provided the necessary documentation/communication with BPA environmental compliance staff to ensure ESA coverage was provided for proposed activities that might cause “take” of listed species within the Tucannon River.

Project staff completed quarterly status reports on time and provided budget accruals as needed for proper budget management. Staff also worked with the BPA COTR to complete a budget request and Statement of Work for FY2012 activities. Staff procured the order of PIT tags for 2012 needs with BPA and PSMCF PIT tag requisition staff, and coordinated the contract with Biomark Inc for summer steelhead PIT tagging activities that occurred in January 2012.

During the contract year, a new system for reporting RM&E Metadata was created (monitoringmethods.org), where protocols/designs/methods for each BPA funded project are published. Protocols for this particular project are still being reviewed, but none have been reported as “published” to monitoringmethods.org to date. A WDFW workgroup will convene in late February 2013 to standardize methods and protocols used within this project and other BPA funded projects.

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References

Bugert, R., P LaRiviere, D. Marbach, S. Martin, L. Ross, and D. Geist. 1990. Lower Snake River Compensation Plan Salmon Hatchery Evaluation Program 1989 Annual Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, AFF 1/LSR-90-08, Cooperative Agreement 14-16-0001-89525. Washington Department of Fisheries, Olympia, Washington.

Bumgarner, J. D. 2012. Tucannon Expanded PIT Tagging: 2011 Annual Report to U.S. Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, Environment, Fish and Wildlife. Portland, OR 97208. BPA Project Number 2010‐042‐00.

Bumgarner, J. D. 2013 (Draft). Tucannon Expanded PIT Tagging: 2012 Annual Report to U.S. Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, Environment, Fish and Wildlife. Portland, OR 97208. BPA Project Number 2010‐042‐00.

Crawford, E., M. Schuck and M. Herr. 2012. Asotin Creek Salmonid Assessment: 2011 Annual Report to U.S. Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, Environment, Fish and Wildlife. Portland, OR 97208. BPA Project Number 2002-053-00

Peter F. Galbreath, P.F., C. A. Beasley, B. A. Berejikian, R. W. Carmichael, D. E. Fast, M. J. Ford, J. A. Hesse, L. L. McDonald, A. R. Murdoch, C. M. Peven, and D. A. Venditti. 2008. Recommendations for Broad Scale Monitoring to Evaluate the Effects of Hatchery Supplementation on the Fitness of Natural Salmon and Steelhead Populations. Final Draft Report of the Ad Hoc Supplementation Monitoring and Evaluation Workgroup. 69 pp.

Gallinat, M. P., and L. A. Ross. 2011. Lower Snake River Compensation Plan Tucannon River Spring Chinook Hatchery Hatchery Evaluation Program 2010 Annual Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Cooperative Agreement 1411-A-J012. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Olympia, Washington. FPA 11-10. 80 pp.

Hatchery Scientific Review Group. 2009. Review and Recommendations for Tucannon River Summer Steelhead A-Run Population and Related Hatchery Programs. January 31, 2009. 7 pp.

National Marine Fisheries Service. 2008. Endangered Species Act – Section 7 Consultation Biological Opinion and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act Consultation: consultation on remand for operation of the Columbia River Power System and 19 Bureau of Reclamation Projects in the Columbia Basin. NMFS, Portland, Oregon.

Tucannon Subbasin Summary. 2001. L. Gephart and D. Nordheim, editors. Prepared for the Northwest Power Planning Council. Dayton, Washington.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 2011. Washington Lower Snake River Compensation Plan State Operated Hatcheries: Assessments and Recommendations. Final Report, March 2011. Hatchery Review Team, Pacific Region. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. Available at: http://www.fws.gov/Pacific/fisheries/Hatcheryreview/reports.html.

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