Yakama Nation Sockeye Reintroduction XIII

This project is phase 8 of an ongoing series of projects. The purpose of this project is to continue with sockeye reintroduction through continued transport of sockeye from Priest Rapids Dam to Lake Cle Elum. PCSRF funds are requested to provide equipment and operational support in 2023-2026 that is essential to the sockeye reintroduction program. Specifically, YN requests the custom build of a dedicated fishing/research/ and monitoring seining vessel. This vessel, which has been professionally designed, will provide or accommodate our ability to employ critical data collection elements that include: 1) trap-and-haul operations for transport of adult sockeye salmon, 2) hydro acoustic surveys to monitor juvenile rearing distributions and to guide seining effort, and 3) juvenile capture and release to allow tagging and sampling. The latter will provide indispensable data for understanding smolt emigration behavior, downstream survival, dispersal, abundances, and smolt-to-adult productivity. This will be a specialized seining vessel of unique design, specifically tailored to the activities YN will conduct to monitor and evaluate the reintroduced sockeye population, as well as having utility for trap and haul operations. Currently, the YN sockeye program is reliant on the loan of personnel and equipment (e.g. nets, boats, crew) to conduct such work, for which the opportunities to utilize those resources is greatly limited by budget, priorities, and seasonal availability.





Specific tasks include:



Worksite #1: Lake Cle Elum



The adults collected at Priest Rapids Dam will be transported by truck and released into Lake Cle Elum located in Kittitas County, Washington.

The benefit of this project is to reintroduce sockeye back into its historical areas within the Yakima River Basin starting first with Lake Cle Elum. The YN views this project as not only returning sockeye to its historical range, but also as a major part of rebuilding the ecosystem as a whole. In addition to enhancing the diversity, spatial distribution, and resiliency of the aggregate Columbia River sockeye stock, this reintroduction restores the well-described and broad benefits of marine-derived nutrients to a myriad of aquatic and terrestrial species in the upper Yakima watershed, including ESA-listed bull trout and summer steelhead. Removing introduced Mackinaw from the lake is also a critical part of restoring a self-sustaining sockeye population and natural ecosystem function.