Section 1. Administrative
| Proposal title | Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP), Sawtooth Fish Hatchery |
| Proposal ID | 200106 |
| Organization | Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) |
| Proposal contact person or principal investigator |
| Name | Tom Rogers |
| Mailing address | Fisheries, P.O. Box 25 Boise ID 83707 |
| Phone / email | 2083343791 / trogers@idfg.state.id.us |
| Manager authorizing this project | Virgil Moore, Chief of Fisheries, IDFG |
| Review cycle | LSRCP |
| Province / Subbasin | Mountain Snake / Salmon |
| Short description | As part of the LSRCP, Sawtooth Fish Hatchery's objective is to rear juvenile spring chinook salmon to meet the mitigation goal of 19,000 adult salmon upstream of Lower Granite Dam, and to provide summer steelhead eggs to other LSRCP hatcheries. |
| Target species | Oncoryhnchus tshawytscha, spring chinook; Oncoryhnchus mykiss, summer steelhead |
Project location
| Latitude | Longitude | Description |
|---|
|
|
Range 13 E, T 10 N Sec 36 |
| 44.1517 |
-114.8843 |
Sawtooth Fish Hatchery |
Reasonable and Prudent Alternatives (RPAs)
Sponsor-reported:
| RPA |
|---|
| Hatchery RPA Action 169 |
| Hatchery RPA Action 170 |
Relevant RPAs based on NMFS/BPA review:
| Reviewing agency | Action # | BiOp Agency | Description |
|---|
Section 2. Past accomplishments
| Year | Accomplishment |
|---|
|
See Sawtooth Appendix 1 |
Section 3. Relationships to other projects
| Project ID | Title | Description |
|---|
|
LSRCP Hatchery Evaluation Studies |
Provides hatchery chinook and steelhead for hatchery evaluation and experimentation |
|
LSRCP Harvest Monitoring Program |
Provides hatchery steelhead for mitigation fisheries. |
| 198909800 |
Idaho Supplementation Studies |
Rears spring chinook for supplementation experimentation. |
| 199005500 |
Steelhead Supplementaiton Studies in Idaho Rivers |
Outplants adult hatchery steelhead for supplementation experimentation. |
| 199700100 |
Captive Rearing Initiative for Salmon River Chinook Salmon |
Holding/rearing of captive juvenile chinook. |
| 199107200 |
Redfish Lake Sockeye Salmon Captive Broodstock Program |
Holding/rearing of captive juvenile sockeye, trap and spawn adult sockeye. |
|
U.S. v Oregon Spring Management Agreement, 2001 |
Contributes spring chinook production for fisheries and supplementation experimentation. |
|
U.S. v Oregon Fall Management Agreement, 2001 |
Contributes steelhead eggs for fisheries and supplementation experimentation. |
Section 4. Budget for Planning and Design phase
Task-based budget
| Objective | Task | Duration in FYs | Estimated 2002 cost | Subcontractor |
|---|
Outyear objectives-based budget
| Objective | Starting FY | Ending FY | Estimated cost |
|---|
Outyear budgets for Planning and Design phase
Section 5. Budget for Construction and Implementation phase
Task-based budget
| Objective | Task | Duration in FYs | Estimated 2002 cost | Subcontractor |
|---|
Outyear objectives-based budget
| Objective | Starting FY | Ending FY | Estimated cost |
|---|
Outyear budgets for Construction and Implementation phase
Section 6. Budget for Operations and Maintenance phase
Task-based budget
| Objective | Task | Duration in FYs | Estimated 2002 cost | Subcontractor |
|---|
| 1.Produce up to 2.4 million spring chinook smolts for release annually in the upper Salmon River. |
Collect spring chinook brood stock at Sawtooth Fish Hatchery weir and trap, spawn and incubate eggs. |
ongoing |
$452,699 |
|
|
b.Rear spring chinook progeny to smolt size. |
ongoing |
$0 |
|
| 2. Take summer steelhead eggs and incubate to eyed stage for other LSRCP hatchery programs for Salmon River release. Acclimate summer steelhead smolts. |
a.Collect summer steelhead brood stock at Sawtooth Fish Hatchery, Clayton Pond Trap, and East Fork Fish Trap for egg taking purposes. |
ongoing |
$223,694 |
|
|
b. Pack and ship eyed summer steelhead eggs to various LSRCP rearing hatcheries. |
ongoing |
$0 |
|
|
c.Acclimate steelhead smolts from Hagerman National and Magic Valley Fish Hatcheries. |
ongoing |
$0 |
|
| 3.Mark spring chinook with fin clip, CWT, PIT, or other methods for research, monitoring, and potential selective fishery needs. |
a.Provide manpower and equipment to clip and tag up to 2.4 million chinook smolts. |
ongoing |
$99,073 |
|
| 4.Provide fish health exams and disease treatments for juvenile chinook and adult brood stock for disease prevention. |
a.Provide monthly fish health exams for juvenile chinook and a prerelease exam. Conduct disease sampling of brood stock during spawning season to facilitate adult and egg culling for BKD and viruses. |
ongoing |
$98,320 |
|
| 5.Conduct ESA consultation and permit procedures |
a.Develop Section 10 permit applications, develop Section 7 biological assessments and participate in consultations, write ESA related reports, and assist with HGMP development. |
ongoing |
$14,062 |
|
Outyear objectives-based budget
| Objective | Starting FY | Ending FY | Estimated cost |
|---|
| 1.Produce up to 2.4 million spring chinook for release into the upper Salmon River drainage. |
2003 |
2006 |
$2,048,748 |
| 2.Trap hatchery adult steelhead to collect eggs and incubate to eyed stage for other LSRCP hatchery program and acclimate steelhead smolts. |
2003 |
2006 |
$1,012,356 |
| 3. Mark chinook salmon. |
2003 |
2006 |
$448,368 |
| 4. Conduct fish health program. |
2003 |
2006 |
$444,960 |
| 5. Conduct ESA procedures. |
2003 |
2006 |
$63,639 |
Outyear budgets for Operations and Maintenance phase
| FY 2003 | FY 2004 | FY 2005 | FY 2006 |
|---|
| $932,240 | $978,852 | $1,027,795 | $1,079,185 |
Section 7. Budget for Monitoring and Evaluation phase
Task-based budget
| Objective | Task | Duration in FYs | Estimated 2002 cost | Subcontractor |
|---|
Outyear objectives-based budget
| Objective | Starting FY | Ending FY | Estimated cost |
|---|
Outyear budgets for Monitoring and Evaluation phase
Section 8. Estimated budget summary
Itemized budget
| Item | Note | FY 2002 cost |
|---|
| Personnel |
|
$293,498 |
| Fringe |
|
$107,763 |
| Supplies |
|
$369,224 |
| Travel |
|
$9,600 |
| Indirect |
|
$107,763 |
| $887,848 |
Total estimated budget
| Total FY 2002 cost | $887,848 |
| Amount anticipated from previously committed BPA funds | $0 |
| Total FY 2002 budget request | $887,848 |
| FY 2002 forecast from 2001 | $0 |
| % change from forecast | 0.0% |
Cost sharing
| Organization | Item or service provided | Amount | Cash or in-kind |
|---|
Reviews and recommendations
This information was not provided on the original proposals, but was generated during the review process.
Recommendation:
Fundable only if response is adequate
Date:
Dec 21, 2001
Comment:
A response is needed. Do not provide funds for unspecified research. Many of the comments on Project 200103 pertain also to this one.
The project goal of 19,000 adult spring chinook salmon upstream of Lower Granite Dam has never been achieved; hatchery returns have never been even 2000 fish. The part of the overall LSCRP goal for production of steelhead adults from Sawtooth Hatchery was not specified in the proposal. Project results were provided in Appendix 1, but the presentation is not clear. The presentation should make clear the release and returns for each brood, by age class and by year. It appears the adult return is the count at the Sawtooth and East Fork racks. Are data available to estimate how many of each species was harvested? As it stands, the spring chinook salmon goal (19,000) remains far in excess of any return, even the 2001 return. Numerical goals, and release and return data (including any harvest data) need to be presented in enough detail (more than is presented in Appendix 1) to answer the previous questions and to permit assessment of how well the program is or is not meeting its goals.
Proposed objective 5 (page 4) is to "Implement research programs at the hatchery to improve salmon and steelhead returns to the hatchery." There is no proposal(s) describing this research, or to show a need for additional research.
Recommendation:
Fund
Date:
Apr 23, 2002
Comment:
Fundable, but issues remain. The added material seems thorough and is very helpful. The project history is particularly good and helps to explain what is going on. It is evident that all or virtually all effort is directed toward matters internal to the hatcheries and that none or almost none exists regarding effects on ecosystems. It is abundantly clear that the goal is to produce a large number of smolts.
Some effort is being made to help preclude genetic problems with hatchery broodstocks. One strategy is to cull the eggs from adults that show high levels of certain pathogens. However, that effort could be counter-productive if these characteristics are heritable and correlated traits are affected by the culling, or if "select" fish survive to spawn in aggregations of wild fish.
The response clarified the appendix table, and qualifications of the project personnel were provided as requested. For the Clearwater Fish Hatchery, the proponents provided a detailed and thorough response to the IHNV issue raised in the ISRP's preliminary review.
Respondent states (pg.46) that NMFS has supported LSRCP so the benefits have been produced without causing"... significant negative effects to critical wild fish populations." The basis for that conclusion by NMFS should be included in documents prepared for technical review and public information.
The response on pages 47-49 is inappropriate. Many hatchery-supported programs in the basin are being managed so as to prevent "domestication" of the hatchery product to help preclude deleterious effects in mixtures of hatchery and wild fish spawning in nature. This includes efforts to prevent selective breeding. The culling practiced in this project may be selective breeding and may contribute to the "domestication" problem that others are attempting to prevent.
Idaho's biologists are working hard to meet the goals of their part of the program. They state on page 47"... we believe we are implementing a progressive hatchery program that remains dedicated to meeting LSRCP and IDFG goals." However, in regard to the ISRP concern about how fish produced by LSRCP are incorporated into the ecosystem, there was inadequate response. The concerns expressed in this ISRP comment must be addressed by system managers/administrators. This large hatchery program should not be operated in isolation from other elements of the Columbia River program. In come cases, efforts to meet LSRCP goals with fixed physical capacity include "improving" survival of the hatchery fish; efforts that are likely to reduce variability, cause selection, and generally further the domestication process.
For the McCall and Sawtooth fish hatcheries and the related Fish Monitoring project (200119), the response presents an itemization of research projects on pages 51-53, but the results and methods are not presented in sufficient detail to assess the scientific credibility of these projects. Our preliminary recommendation was to not provide funds for unspecified research. The response does not provide enough detail to change that recommendation. The ISRP also recommends that additional emphasis should be placed on submitting research results for publication in the fisheries literature. Clearly some of the research projects in progress appropriately fall more in the realm of management monitoring for which annual reports are adequate, but the program should produce some work that is publishable. Indication of that to date, however, was absent from the proposal and from the vitae of the two Fisheries Research Biologists.
The project goal of 19,000 adult spring chinook salmon upstream of Lower Granite Dam has never been achieved; hatchery returns have never been even 2,000 fish. As it stands, the spring chinook salmon goal (19,000) remains far in excess of any return, even the 2001 return.