Tucannon River Spring Chinook Salmon Captive Broodstock Program: 2003 Annual Report

This report summarizes the objectives, tasks, and accomplishments of the Tucannon River Spring Chinook Captive Broodstock Program during 2003.

The WDFW initiated a captive broodstock program in 1997. The overall goal of the Tucannon River captive broodstock program is for the short-term, and eventually long-term, rebuilding of the Tucannon River spring chinook salmon run, with the hope that natural production will sustain itself. The project goal is to rear captive salmon selected from the supplementation program to adults, spawn them, rear their progeny, and release approximately 150,000 smolts annually into the Tucannon River between 2003-2007. These smolt releases, in combination with the current hatchery supplementation program (132,000 smolts) and wild production, are expected to produce 600-700 returning adult spring chinook to the Tucannon River each year from 2005-2010.

The captive broodstock program collected fish from five (1997-2001) brood years (BY). As of January 1, 2004, WDFW has approximately 18 BY 1999, 189 BY 2000, 405 BY 2001, and 277 BY 2002 (for extra males) fish on hand at LFH.

The 2003 eggtake from the 1998 brood year (Age 5) was 8,378 eggs from 5 ripe females. Egg survival was 64%. Mean fecundity based on the 3 fully spawned females was 1,794 eggs/female.

The 2003 eggtake from the 1999 brood year (Age 4) was 226,043 eggs from 158 ripe females. Egg survival was 65%. Mean fecundity based on the 157 fully spawned females was 1,433 eggs/female.

The 2003 eggtake from the 2000 brood year (Age 3) was 74,995 eggs from 60 ripe females. Egg survival was 45%. Mean fecundity based on the 59 fully spawned fish was 1,250 eggs/female.

The total 2003 eggtake from the captive brood program was 309,416 eggs. A total of 122,673 dead eggs (40%) were removed with 186,743 live eggs remaining for the program. An additional 21,943 dead eggs/fry (11.8%) were picked at ponding leaving 164,800 fish for rearing. As of May 1, 2004 we had 153,038 BY 2003 captive brood progeny on hand

During April 2004, WDFW volitionally released 44,784 BY 2002 captive broodstock progeny smolts from Curl Lake Acclimation Pond into the Tucannon River. These fish were marked with agency-only wire tags and no fin clips in order to differentiate them from the supplementation fish (CWT/Right Red VIE/No Finclip). A total of 1,029 captive brood progeny smolts were PIT tagged to compare their outmigration with smolts from the supplementation program (1,016 tagged). Monitoring their survival and future releases to adult returns, along with future natural production levels, will determine the success or failure of this captive broodstock program.