150 years Columbia Basin sockeye salmon mismanagement

1. 150 years Columbia Basin sockeye salmon mismanagement Jeffrey K. Fryer Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission Portland, OR

2. Columbia Basin management has only rarely considered sockeye salmon as a species worth having, let alone managing • In early years, sockeye lakes were dammed with no consideration given for sockeye. Harvests were also unregulated. • Fish managers wiped out sockeye runs with misguided hatchery practices and poison. • Mitigation for hydroelectric dams has rarely considered sockeye salmon. (e.g. Mitchell Act, Lower Snake River Compensation program provide no funding for sockeye salmon) • Result-runs declined from >3 million to a mean of 47,000 over the past 10 years.

3. Columbia River Sockeye Salmon Stock Status

4. Built in 1907 with “unsatisfactory fish passage” (Davidson 1965) Built 1905-1933 with no fish passage Yakima Basin

5. Black Canyon Dam (BOR-1923) blamed in an Oregon Legislative Report for killing off “more thoroughly than all commercial and sports fisheries combined have been able to do, the runs of chinook salmon.” Payette Basin

6. Fry Released Eggs Planted Grande Ronde Basin Two canneries on lake in 1891 and 1892. Fisheries and unscreened irrigation diversions led to initial decline. Early 1900’s, ODF trapped sockeye salmon from 1902-1906.

7. Round Butte Dam (1964) Deschutes Basin Very small lake, blocked by power dam with nearly impassible fish ladder in 1930.

8. Upper Columbia

9. Grand Coulee Fish Maintenance Project • Trapped all adult sockeye at Rock Island Dam and released most into Lake Wenatchee and Osoyoos Lake. Others were taken to hatcheries in the Wenatchee and Methows, spawned, and progeny released in the Wenatchee, Okanogan, and Methow systems. • Sockeye hatchery propagation efforts continued until the early 1960’s.

10. Salmon Basin Historically, sockeye used at least 5 and possibly as many as 8 lakes. Redfish Lake was named for spawning sockeye salmon.

11. Irrigation dams constructed between 1915 and 1921 eliminated access to all lakes but Osoyoos Lake. Okanagan Basin

12. Okanagan Basin • In 1957 and 1958, a flood control project transformed 22 km of spawning habitat upstream of Osoyoos Lake into an 11 km channel. • To compensate for this loss, the USFWS proposed providing fish passage to Okanagan Lake. This proposal was not accepted by Canada.

13. Hydroelectric dams with downstream turbines built in 1907 and 1908 dewatered 4.6 km of river during low flow. Turbines removed in late 1950’s and fish ladders rebuilt in 1980’s. Wenatchee Basin

14. Columbia Basin sockeye escapement and available lake rearing area 1887-1945

15. Columbia Basin Sockeye Escapement 1940-2002

16. What’s Left? • Significant stocks occupy 2 lakes in 2 subbasins (Wenatchee and Okanogan) • Mean run size (1995-1999): 21,600 fish • Four of the lowest five runs on record occurred between 1994 and 1999. • 2000-93,400 • 2001-114,900 • 2002-49,600 • Forecast for 2003: 22,000

17. Why have Columbia Basin sockeye salmon declined over the past 60 years given that no additional habitat has been lost and that fisheries were largely eliminated by the 1970’s? • Largely ignored by fish managers. While the majority of steelhead, chinook and coho are of hatchery origin, very few sockeye are of hatchery origin. • 7-9 mainstem dams between spawning grounds and the ocean. • Sockeye smolts appear particularly vulnerable to the methods we are presently using to get smolts around dams (barges and screens).

18. Current Fish Management • ESA rather than fisheries as in the past • Efforts to save/restore chinook and steelhead stocks • Local and tribal interest in sockeye fisheries and restoration Driven by:

19. Columbia Basin Sockeye Salmon Fisheries (Zones 1-6)

20. Redfish Lake Escapement Estimates

21. Snake River Sockeye under ESA 1991-2003 • Large amounts of money are spent on a captive rearing and hatchery programs with little to show for it. • The one year that more than 60 fish returned (2000) brought this comment by an IDFG biologist, “We could easily overwhelm the lakes if we are not careful. This year we returned 257 adults, we actually exceeded our capacity. We don’t plan to produce that many fish again.” Idaho Statesman, November 26, 2001. • No consideration is given to sockeye salmon in designing dam bypass systems or in transportation.

22. Snake River Sockeye under ESA 1991-2003 Dilemnas such as this one: “In terms of his genetic importance, and who we want to cross him with, this fish is either a residual or a kokanee. …this fish is a desirable fish, from a genetic standpoint. His haplotype is H9. However, that is a residual haplotype, and there is some question about the extent to which we want to amplify the residual genetic component within this program.”Stanley Basin Sockeye Technical Oversight Committee minutes, September 16, 1998.

23. Mid-Columbia Supplementation Program Results Lake Wenatchee Brood Year Release-Adult Survival 1989 1.30% 1990 0.17% 1991 0.004% 1992 0.14% • 0.21% • 0.49% • 0.32% Cassimer Bar (Okanogan) • 0.00% • 0.00% • 0.00% • 0.00% • 0.00%

24. Current Management Goals • Management goal of 65,000 adult sockeye at Priest Rapids Dam, which requires 75,000 over Bonneville Dam. • Non-Indian commerical and recreational impacts on listed sockeye will be minimized, but shall not exceed 1% of the run. • WDFW manages the Wenatchee stock for an escapement of 25,000 to Tumwater Dam and has occasional Lake Wenatchee sport fisheries when that goal is exceeded. (2001 was the only such fishery since 1992.)

25. Treaty Indian Columbia River Fisheries

26. Where does Okanagan restoration fit into Columbia basin sockeye salmon management? It doesn’t, but … Impacts on Snake River (ESA listed) and Wenatchee stocks would make it impossible to harvest increased Okanagan runs without adversely impacting those stocks (unless fisheries were moved into Rocky Reach or Wells pools or the lower Okanogan River).

27. 2001-run size of 116,623 largest since 1987 (large run predicted and followed run of 93,757 in 2000) • 1,689 (1.4%) harvested below Bonneville Dam • 6,966 (6.0%) harvested in tribal fisheries between Bonneville and McNary dams • 2,034 (1.7%) harvested in tribal fisheries in the vicinity of Priest Rapids Dam. • 3,265 (8.4% of the Wenatchee run) harvested in a Lake Wenatchee sport fishery • <50 (<0.1% of the Okanogan run) harvested by the Colville tribe at the base of Chief Joseph Dam • Number harvested by the Okanagan Band in Canada unavailable. Escapement to Wells Dam-74,486, largest since 1968

28. Take Home Message Even under the existing management framework, a large increase in sockeye runs resulting from Okanagan/Skaha lake sockeye restoration can not result in large lower river fisheries that offset this increase without destroying the Wenatchee and ESA-listed Snake River sockeye salmon runs.

29. Observations • The best chance to restore sockeye salmon in the Columbia Basin is in the Okanagan basin. (Other significant opportunities may reside in the Yakima Basin and possibly Lake Chelan or upstream of Grand Coulee.) Technically, providing passage at Enloe, McIntyre, Okanagan Falls, and Penticton dams is relatively easy. • A rapidly expanding human population in the Okanagan basin means the opportunity may be fleeting. Once water or riparian habitat is allocated to development, it is unlikely to ever be restored to salmon.

30. Observations • There is available funding for Okanagan Basin projects from U.S. sources. Douglas PUD is already providing funding, and Chelan and Grant PUD should also be providing mitigation for Okanagan sockeye mortality suffered at mainstem dams. Funding may also be available from BPA and NWPPC subbasin planning efforts. • Sustainable development??