Bogachiel Wild Steelhead Broodstock Program - Options Document

Background
The Washington Department of Game entered into a 25-year cooperative agreement with the Olympic Peninsula Guides' Association (OPGA) on June 17, 1986.  The purpose of the agreement was:

"to provide a maximum of 100,000 winter steelhead smolts of wild Soleduck River stock annually for release into the Soleduck River.  These fish shall be reared to release size (larger than 10 fish /pound) on OPGA managed facilities and are to be used to produce additional harvestable adult steelhead for commercial and sport fishermen on the Quillayute River system.  Returning adults from this project will be considered hatchery fish for the purposes of harvest management."

The OPGA was to draw broodstock each year from early returning Sol Duc wild steelhead, to be collected prior to February 1. The early returning wild steelhead were targeted to provide additional harvestable steelhead during the period between the December peaking early-timed hatchery returns and the later wild returns. There was an additional assumption that returning Snider origin steelhead that escaped the fisheries would bolster the early portion of the wild return, which is typically subjected to higher exploitation rates than the later timed peak return of wild steelhead.

This agreement expired June of 2011, prompting a review of the project to assess its performance in light of its original purpose and the more recently developed Hatchery and Fishery Reform Policy guidelines, and management directives contained in the Statewide Steelhead Management Plan.  A written assessment of the performance of the program, completed spring of 2011, is available for download from the web at: http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01187/.  This information, combined with public comment and discussion, provided the basis for the decision to designate the Sol Duc River a "wild steelhead gene bank", and move the broodstock program to the Bogachiel River on an interim basis while determining whether to renew, renew with modifications, or terminate the program.

This document describes program options that have been identified, and includes broodstock collection protocols, egg incubation, rearing location(s), release goals, locations, and procedures, adult collection procedures, projected proportion hatchery-origin spawners (pHOS) and proportionate natural influence (PNI), and monitoring plans.  These program options will undergo technical review by the Hatchery Scientific Review Group (HSRG), be discussed with the Steelhead and Cutthroat Policy Advisory Group (SCPAG), and public input will be solicited before the final decision.