Upper Puyallup and White River Spring Chinook Enhancement

The Tribe operates four rearing ponds in the upper White River where spring chinook are acclimated for two to three months depending on growth prior to release. These ponds have been in operation since 1995. For FY-04 were used to body tag spring chinook juveniles to provide a comparison of relative survival between each for the acclimation ponds. This technique required the use of CWTs placed in 4 different locations of the body; head, ventral, caudal, and dorsal regions. The tag detector wands will have to be waved over the entire fish to verify tag location. 30,000 fish from each of four ponds were tagged for this study to provide for a comparison of survival rates. Subsequent recoveries at the Buckley Trap over a three year span has shown that fish released from the Huckleberry Pond have the highest survival rate. This pond also hosts the largest number of fish in any year due to its size and flow through rate so perhaps survival is linked to safety in numbers.
This proposal also contributed to rearing pond efforts for coho and chinook in the Upper Puyallup River that have been ongoing since 1997. Additionally, surplus hatchery adults from the WDFW Voights Cr. facility are transported and released at multiple sites to infuse a natural reproduction element into the recovery strategy. Ecological benefits associated with carcass decomposition and nutrient loading are also important for this highly oligotrophic system.

Note: This project was modified to only reflect enhancement activities per the request of NOAA.

Increased population of naturally produced spring chinook. Havestable numbers returning to watershed.