Coho Monitoring and Evaluation 2019

The Nez Perce Tribe is implementing a two-phased approach to coho salmon reintroductions in the Clearwater River subbasin. The Nez Perce Tribe’s overall goal for coho salmon in the Clearwater River subbasin is to reintroduce and restore coho salmon to levels of abundance and productivity sufficient to support sustainable runs and annual harvest. Phase I of the Clearwater coho reintroduction program focuses on the establishment of a localized coho salmon stock capable of enduring the migration to the Clearwater River subbasin. Accompanying that goal is a desire to monitor and evaluate the results of the coho salmon restoration program so that operations can be adaptively managed to optimize hatchery and natural production, and minimize deleterious ecological impacts.

Pursuant to this informed adaptive management approach, research data collection and analysis for the coho restoration M&E program endeavors to: 1) provide science-based recommendations for management and policy consideration; 2) demonstrate when the reintroduction program meets its restoration goals and 3) assist in the re-establishment of tribal and recreational fisheries.

The project will have seven seasonal fish technicians (3 funded by Mitchell Act and 4 funded by PCSRF) that work together as one crew to operate and monitor the Lapwai Creek weir, Kooskia National Fish Hatchery trap and Dworshak National Fish Hatchery adult ladder seven days a week while adult coho are returning (October- November).

They will also complete weekly stream surveys for Lapwai Creek and Clear Creek counting redds and carcasses throughout the spawning season (October- November). They will also conduct all -n hatchery spawning. These employees will assist with three of the five primary activities described in the base level hatchery-origin coho monitoring and evaluation. Activity 1) CWT data collection, analysis and reporting; Activity 3) Adult return monitoring of abundance and distribution (adults, redds, broodstock and PIT tag array detections) and Activity 4) In-hatchery production survival and growth monitoring. The additional employees will work with current Coho Project Monitoring Biologist. With the increasing number of adult coho retuning to the Clearwater River it is becoming difficult to complete all data collection tasks, these additional employees will help complete all tasks.

Information gathered under this project is intended to evaluate how well hatchery production techniques are working and whether certain practices can be modified to improve benefits achieved. Sampling under this objective is designed to address the following management assumptions:

· Localized broodstock will be more effective in establishing natural production.
· Hatchery escapement meets identified broodstock goals.
· We can identify the most effective rearing and release strategies.
· Management methods (weirs, juvenile traps, harvest, adult out-plants, juvenile production releases and marking strategies) can be effectively implemented as described in management agreements and monitoring and evaluation plans.

Specific activities to occur by worksite are as follows:

Dworshak National Fish Hatchery: Adult salmonid population monitoring in cooperation with the Production division (PCSRF project 19-NezP-01)

Clear Creek: Adult salmonid population monitoring, redd counts and carcass counts (on 8.8 stream miles)

Lapwai Creek: Adult salmonid population monitoring, redd counts and Carcass counts (on 6.8 stream miles)

The Nez Perce Tribe’s overall goal is to reintroduce and restore coho salmon to the Clearwater River Subbasin at levels of abundance and productivity sufficient to support sustainable runs and annual harvest. Consistent with the Clearwater Subbasin Plan and Wy-Kan-Ush-Mi Wa-Kish-Wit: Spirit of the Salmon Tribal Recovery Plan, the Nez Perce Tribe envisions an annual escapement of 14,000 coho to the Clearwater River Subbasin. Based on results from the existing Clearwater River Subbasin coho production program and experience in managing anadromous fish populations in the Snake River Basin, the Nez Perce Tribe believes this program will require a substantial hatchery production component and the establishment of highly productive naturally spawning coho salmon aggregates.

The Nez Perce Tribe developed management objectives aimed at achieving the overall goal of the program. These include:

• Establish a localized Clearwater River coho salmon broodstock.
• Establish natural spawning populations of coho salmon in the Clearwater River Subbasin.
• Utilize hatchery production to achieve optimal production effectiveness while meeting priority management objectives for natural production enhancement, harvest, diversity and minimizing impacts to non-target populations.
• Restore and maintain treaty-reserved tribal and recreational fisheries.
• Monitor and evaluate program activities and communicate program findings to resource managers.
• This project specifically provides fish for tribal treaty rights. It gives the treaty tribes access to Mitchell Act fish that were previously released downstream of Bonneville Dam, it provides fish for harvest in the Columbia River from the mouth up through Zone 6, it provides fish for harvest in the tributaries of the Snake River, and it
provides fish for natural spawning and reintroduction of an extirpated stock in the Clearwater River.
• Reintroduction and natural production of coho is succeeding in the Clearwater Basin. Because coho spawn in smaller tributaries in the fall, these fish have proven to be a critical source of nutrients in the streams and a source of food for our tables. There have been many coho redds counted in Clearwater tributaries since 2011 – most of those in Lapwai and Clear creeks where juveniles are released. The spawners are a highly visible testament in our local communities that we can have salmon, that restoration programs have a tangible benefit.