I would like to add a bit to my last post, in particular what might be gained by looking at Atlantic salmon recovery efforts. Atlantic salmon like steelhead do not die after spawning, they return to the ocean and can return to spawn multiple times. Canada, USA, and several European countries have programs to increase kelt survival. This could be a useful program in Puget Sound.

In 2001 the Columbia River Inter-Tribal fish commission and the Yakama Nation started a kelt reconditioning research project patterned after the Atlantic salmon programs. Repeat spawner return rates for Puget Sound rivers are low but that may not be historically true. In 1994 -96 the Utkholok river in Kamchatka was estimated to have a repeat spawner rate of 79%. From 1956 to 1964 repeat spawners averaged 58% of the total runs in the Clackamas river and recent estimates for the Kalama have been as high as 17%. Upstream of the dams the repeat spawner rates drop to low levels, 1.5 to 3.5%. There is a detailed report of this project, their 2004 annual report to the BPA, that can be downloaded from the link below.

http://www.efw.bpa.gov/publications/A00004185-5.pdf

I think a similar program would be of some benefit to wild Puget Sound steelhead. The difficult part would be capturing the kelts but it could be done with sports gear. If you fish for steelhead in March and April you know that you catch numerous down streamers. Reconditioning could start in freshwater holding facilities, then they could be moved to saltwater pens and held for varying lengths of time before release. They could even be held until they are almost ready for spawning and then released. Some research on how migration and homing might be effected would be required (there was one question along these lines at the last WSC meeting) but the research could be done with hatchery fish. Reconditioning should not be a big problem because it would be similar to the Atlantic salmon aquaculture brood-stock programs. The payoffs could be dramatic, if, in a few years a 17% repeat spawner return, like the Kalama could be achieved it would be great. Of course the habitat has to be available for the increased spawners.