Will Getting Some Steelhead To Spawn Twice Improve Numbers? Yakama Nation Project Looks For Answers

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council gave its conditional approval for the continuation of funding for a Yakama Nation project aimed at determining whether beleaguered upper Columbia steelhead populations can get a reproductive boost through the “reconditioning” of fish with an urge to spawn a second time.



Unlike salmon species that spawn once and die, steelhead in relatively small numbers have been known to spawn, head downriver from Columbia River tributaries and then at points relatively unknown turn around and head upstream on a second spawning mission.



Because of their physically depleted condition, few complete that mission. In a response to a question Tuesday from the Council, the Yakama Nation’s Matt Abrahamse said that probably fewer than 1 percent of the steelhead that spawn in streams such as central Washington’s Methow River successfully make the loop to spawn a second time. Abrahamse is project lead for the Yakama Nation.



The goal of the Yakama Nation steelhead “kelt” .... http://www.cbbulletin.com/432586.aspx

Some tribes should consider letting wild Steelhead spawn the first time.

An older and presumably larger female should also have more eggs than her first spawning so it is a worthy goal having steelhead spawn more than once.

But if they spawn, how do you sell them?

Where there are log enough complete data sets (spawner counts and age of all fish) the R/S for winter steelhead spawning for the first time is consistently less than 1.0 . Consequently, repeat spawners are required for a self sustaining population.

Some of the Kamchatka and Alaska populations have 50-90% repeats.

I believe they are actually smaller on their second spawning. They don't recover as much as they lost in the first spawning.

This is really interesting based on some PIT data I saw last week. I thought a kelt would spend at least a year in the salt before turning back. The fish I saw would go down and turn right back up. There may be something in preventing them from falling over 9 dams just to cross them again.

The data I have seen in the past shows that the steelhead are roughly the same size the second time around...definitely not bigger, it takes a lot out of them to spawn, and a getting that back is all they can do.

They do, however, produce about 20% more eggs than they did the first time around, even though they are the same size.

Fish on...

Todd

Interesting. This means they are allocating all their net energy gained to swimming, maintenance and gonads and none to body growth.

On the other hand these studies (on hatchery origin fish) suggested that Steelhead kelts can grow-

www.tunaresearch.org/reprints/teo_2011_environ_biol_fish.pdf

https://www.fws.gov/fisheries/pdf_files/Null%20et%20al%202012.pdf

Winter steelhead appear to spawn every year (generally-there are always the exceptions). Summer runs take a year off. It is interesting that this, because of scale resorption, does not show on the scale. It must be inferred. This was figured out, at least here in WA, on the Kalama where some of the early summer repeats were there, and in great shape, while the rest were spawning. Figured it was kinda hard to spawn, go downstream, recover all the physical conditioning, and be back in a few weeks. I think that tagging confirmed it because they also found out that the repeats came back to the trap at essentially the same time they had on the first return. This also seems to apply to winters.