Reading material.

From: Jim Johnston
To: BAF1
February 19, 2012

Subject: Some background discussion and decision making history regarding the need for, the development of, and the use of the Chamber's Creek Winter-Run Steelhead broodstock, smolt production, and out-plants

Before there was ever hatchery-origin, winter-run steelhead smolts planted in western Washington streams, people had been killing and capturing native, adult, winter-run steelhead with thrown rocks, spears, bow and arrows, traps, and woven reed nets, and more recently by rod and reel with monofilament lines, as well as by flyfishing with Sprey rods. When there were few people the annual harvests of native steelhead and salmon seemed insignificant. It is hard to imagine how many fish once lived in the unaltered, unpolluted beautiful streams of Washington State. As human population increased, the natural habitat was altered or destroyed for all the reasons man can think up out of a concept of superior "Rights", or ignorance of consequences of actions, or to justify in the act of living, or greed. The fish lost their homes to power and irrigation dams, reservoirs that buried rivers, irrigation canals and fertilizer run-off, flood control diking, water diversions, massive clear-cut logging of whole stream drainages which included blocked streams due to perched road culverts, massive mud slides and silting-in of spawning beds, floods that tore baby fish from their nests, loss of shade cover resulting in warming streams and increases in fish diseases, loss of fish spawning habitat etc. etc. Over time it became obvious to the people catching the fish that the once great fish numbers were no more. In addition to loss of livable habitat, too many fishermen were killing too many fish. The anglers and commercial fishermen, using increasingly sophisticated fish capturing methods and gear (applies to commercial (tribal and non-tribal) fisheries and sport fisheries), too long a duration of for every fishing season, no uniform closures to taking fish off the spawning beds, a history of ineffective retrictions on taking immature anadromous fish as smolts (these were at one time erroneously called 'Spring trout fishing seasons in streams'), introduction of non-native species of fish (bass, pike, walleye, muski, perch, crappie, etc), swamping of the native species in tributary streams with smolt and pre-smolt coho salmon from WDF hatcheries etc. contributed to the loss of naturally sustainable trout and salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. Some of the above obviously continue to this day. And still the populations of native fish decline or go extinct in tributary after tributary of our Northwest rivers.

In the years following WW II the popularity of sportfishing for native winter-run steelhead in the rivers of western Washington soared. Fisheries biologists, hatchery managers and agency administrators at the Washington State Department of Game began planning the development of a broodstock that would be able to produce smolts at age 1+ and return after two years in saltwater to a hatchery in the Puget Sound basin of western Washington. Chambers Creek Hatchery near South Tacoma was chosen to be the permanent home for the broodstock steelhead. At the very begining they developed several criteria for the establishment of such a broodstock that included: they would select earliest-returning-to-freshwater, earliest-sexually-maturing, native steelhead from several Puget Sound rivers each year for at least 4 years, then select from the returning adults for the earlist sexually maturing from which the next generation eggs would be taken and held until smolting. It was decided that the goal would be to genetically select for juveniles that would smolt at age 1+ and having imprinted on Chamber's Creek water be ready to enter saltwater. Any released juveniles that did not smolt would die when forced into saltwater upon release from the hatchery. That would select for genes favoring smoltification at an earlier than average age requiring saltwater entry and select against any genes favoring residualization in freshwater. Residualization in any stream these smolt would be planted in the future would result in probable competition for food and space with that stream's remaining native steelhead. That would be undesirable so residualization was selected against. After several broodstock cycles the goals set for Chamber's Creek hatchery-origin winter run steelhead were achieved. Inbreeding was avoided with additional broodstock collections in future years and data analysis of life-history stage survival rates. The Chamber's Creek winter run steelhead broodstock returned to Chambers Creek mainly from mid-November thru January with a peak in mid-December, 3 to 5 months earlier than most native runs of winter-run steelhead to Puget Sound Basin streams. The Chamber's Creek steelhead smolt up to one year earlier than their native counterparts. The earlier return timing in the Chamber's Creek adult steelhead return time, compared to the return time of native winter-run steelhead to their home streams, means hatchery-origin fish can be harvested by sport and tribal fisheries without endangering the native fish that return later. As extra precaution all hatchery-origin progeny are adipose fin clipped well prior to smolting. That identifies them when they return as adults as hatchery-origin. Unmarked fish (natives) can be required to be released unharmed. The younger age of the Chamber's Creek smolts is due to the earlier time of return and sexual maturation timing of their parents (peak December). These hatchery-origin smolts go to sea at the same time of the year as their native counterparts (April May June) which have usually spent 2 years in freshwater before smolting.

Once the broodstock returns to Chamber's Creek were dependibly established, the egg takes were increased and the additional eggs or fry were shipped to several Dept of Game hatcheries located on several rivers draining to Puget Sound. These fish were raised to smolt size and released into the river the hatcheries or rearing ponds drained into. When the steelhead reached the year of sexual maturation they returned to these new streams, usually pausing in the mainstem near the site they were planted (often a boat launch or park). The peak return time for these hatchery-origin adult winter-run steelhead is December, early January.

The main question is, "Do the Chamber's Creek Hatchery-origin winter-run steelhead hybridize with native steelhead?" Because their respective spawning times average about three months apart it unlikely they are ripe and ready to spawn at the same time. If the unlikely occurred how would we know? The genetic profiles of Chamber's Creek hatchery-origin steelhead have been homogonized over the years by taking eggs and sperm from age 2,3,and 4 adults and mixing them together. The smolt plants into any stream for any one year can also be profiled as a cross check. When the native adults return a tiny tissue sample can be taken to develop the native fishes' genetic profile. In the case of the Skagit River juvenile pre-smolt steelhead were collected from the mainstem and several tributaries and compared to the profiles of Chambers Creek hatchery-origin, winter-run steelhead. The results indicated there was virtually no survival of Chamber's Cr winter-run steelhead progeny in the Skagit River. You would think that since 50,000+ smolts of Chamber's Creek winter-run origin were planted from the Marblemount hatchery rearing pond and mainstem sites every year for over 15 years prior to the genetic sampling done in the mid-1970, large, significant numbers of Chamber's Cr hatchery-origin steelhead would have shown in the sampling; but they did not. The only conclusion can be that the spawning time and incubation timing and the early emergence from the gravel of these hatchery-origin eggs and fry spawned the the Skagit River were selected against by floods, temperatures and probably food availability at emergence. That data was written up in a Skagit River Steelhead Research Report, in the mid to late 1970's. Chuck Phillips was the lead author and project leader. I was supervisor of the Steelhead Research on the Skagit River, the Kalama River, and at Snow Creek. I read the report, signed off approving it and sent copies to the U..S. Fish and Wildlife in Washington D.C., The Department of Game Library, Chuck Phillips, Cliff Millenbach, and the Washington State Library. Apparently no one in Olympia WDFW can find a copy of that report as of this past year. I left my copy with the rest of my reports at the WDFW LaConner office when I retired in 2001. A lot of Skagit River data is/was in those files, including the annual catch data and time of harvest of Creel Checked winter-run steelhead. Because the hatchery run was so strong we could keep the harvest of the sport fishery and the tribal commercial harvest targeted to the time separated run of hatchery-origin, winter-run steelhead. The Chamber's Creek origin hatchery steelhead literally saved the Native Winter-Run Steelhead of the Skagit.

I want to refer you to one other report. We came very close to being able to build a hatchery for winter-run steelhead on the Skagit River, at Grandy Creek, back in 1997. I authored a Biological Assessment of Impact of Proposed Grandy Creek Steelhead Hatchery on Skagit River Dolly Varden / Bull Trout. This report was attached to the WDFW EIS (Environmental Impact Statement Biological Assessment). Please get a copy of that EIS on the Proposed Grandy Creek Steelhead Hatchery from WDFW (Request Under Public Disclosure Law if necessary). You will find enough information on DV and BT and Chamber's Cr. steelhead in that report to satisfy your interests. Why didn't we get the hatchery that the State Legislature had set aside $5 Million for constuction. Because the Director of WDW at that time, Mr. Curt Schmitch said "No." and gave no reason.....the Washington Dept of Wildlife had trouble with about 3 Commission Appointed Directors about that time.

Each of you reading this, within your life-time, has seen most, if not more than I have described. And we still want to be able to go fishing. And we long for the days when fishing rules were simple and understandable. Not long ago the Washington State Game Department Fishing Regulations pamphlet was 20 pages for the whole state. Now the Washington State Fish and Wildlife's Fishing Regulations book looks more like a medium-size city's phone directory! Rules upon Rules. Has anyone determined whether these Rules have resulted in increases in numbers of Native fish where applied? And we long for the days when State Fish Hatcheries still planted high mountain lakes, beaver ponds and hundreds more lowland lakes with resident trout that we and our children could experience catching together, or as just an excuse to get outdoors to be together. Most of those opportunites are gone today and many more will be gone tomorrow. Why? Were is the data to justify such actions. Somehow hatchery-origin winter-run steelhead have been branded as 'bad'. Why? Show us the data and biological justification for such a determination. And soon most, if not all, plants of hatchery-origin steelhead into Pacific Ocean coastal streams, Strait of Juan de Fuca streams and Puget Sound streams will be terminated. Why? Show us the biological data to justify such planting decisions. And finally, as a cumulative consequence of the above biologically unsupportable and questionable actions, the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Dept will claim they have no choice but to close all western Washington's winter steelhead sport fisheries, for lack of harvestible adult hatchery-origin or native-origin winter-run steelhead.... Why? Again the agency must show us the biological basis for such a management decision. It is certain the Tribes will demand answers. Any lacking of biological reasons, it is almost certain each Treaty Recognized Tribe will receive federal money and assistance in developing Tribal hatcheries near the mouth of 'their' rivers and will release thousands to hundred thousands of smolt winter-run steelhead from their hatcheries every spring....and the courts will say these returning hatchery origin adults belong just to the Tribe. Wonder how much the Tribes will charge non-Tribal sport anglers to catch and keep the Tribe's marked steelhead? And how much will the State charge that same sport angler to fish that river? Will the last Director of WDFW please turn out the lights when the agency no longer plants hatchery fish to harvest in any lake or stream above anadromous barriers, when there are no native fish left to harvest or help survive, when all habitat protection regulations have been taken away and given to pro-business State Ecology Dept, and when there are no areas left in the state for special or general hunting by the general public (only hunt-for-a-fee($$$) on private eastern Washington ranches). I am sure many State Legislators will believe they can balance the State of Washington's budget for at least 3 weeks every year by terminating WDFW.

I hope the last few emails, and the referenced reports, will be of assistance to all of you. And, as always, feel free to forward any of these to anyone.. Jim Johnston, retired fish biologist