The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) released today, the assessments and recommendations report for the Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery (Warm Springs NFH) review.
The Warm Springs NFH report identifies 22 specific recommendations for improving the spring Chinook program. Recommendations were made in such areas as: natural and hatchery-origin broodstock broodstock
The reproductively mature adults in a population that breed (or spawn) and produce more individuals (offspring or progeny).
Learn more about broodstock choices; incubation and rearing; release and out-migration; facilities and operations; monitoring, accountability and research; and education and outreach. After careful consideration of alternatives, comments and review of the Warm Springs NFH, the Review Team recommends continuation of the current program but with explicit recommendations for maintaining benefits and reducing risks.
The final assessments and recommendations report for the Warm Springs NFH review and for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Columbia River Basin Hatchery Review can be found at: http://www.fws.gov/pacific/Fisheries/Hatcheryreview/index.html
This Service's process dovetails with the January Council on Environmental Quality announcement for a collaborative review of how fishing and hatcheries affect the recovery of ESA-listed salmon and steelhead. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA-Fisheries) will begin their review of Columbia River Basin Federal, State and Tribal hatcheries later this year.
In an effort to improve its hatchery programs and to ensure that its facilities are best meeting conservation and harvest goals, the Service began, in October 2005, a three-year review of 21 salmon and steelhead hatcheries that the Service owns or operates in the Columbia River Basin. The long-term goals of this review process are to: (1) Establish a scientific foundation for Columbia River Basin hatchery operations; (2) Conserve genetic resources; (3) Assist with recovery of natural populations; (4) Provide sustainable fisheries; (5) Conduct scientific research; and (6) Improve the quality and cost effectiveness of hatchery operations. The Service and NOAA-Fisheries are working together to complete the review of all Columbia River Basin hatcheries no later than 2008.
"Hatcheries must be viewed as part of the environmental and ecological landscape to help achieve both conservation and harvest goals," said Dave Allen, Director of the Service's Pacific Region. "These goals need to be part of a holistic and integrated strategy that combines habitat, hydropower and harvest needs for conserving and managing fishery resources. Watershed strategies must be established to address short- and long-term goals for both hatchery-propagated and naturally-spawning populations," Allen added.
The Warm Springs NFH report provides the risk-benefit assessments and recommendations for the Warm Springs NFH and the spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) program which is located on the Warm Springs River in the Deschutes River watershed in north-central Oregon. This hatchery is co-managed with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. This review was conducted as a pilot to help the Service evaluate and refine the review process which is modeled after the recent Puget Sound and Coastal Washington Hatchery Reform Project.
The Review Team considered four characteristics of each salmonid stock affected by the Warm Springs NFH program in their assessments: biological significance, population viability, habitat conditions, and harvest goals. The Review Team used both short-term (15 years) and long-term (50-75 years) goals for each of these four characteristics, as identified by the co-managers, as a foundation for assessing the benefits and risks of the entire hatchery program.
The Service initiated its review in October 2005 issuing a draft report in February followed by co-manager and stakeholder meetings that month. The Hatchery Review Team received and responded to more than 71 comments from co-managers, stakeholders and environmental organizations.
The Hatchery Review Team concluded that for nearly 30 years, the spring Chinook program at the Warm Springs NFH has provided substantial harvest benefits to tribal fishers in the Warm Springs and Deschutes rivers, and to non-tribal recreational fishers in the lower Deschutes River. The program is one of the first hatchery programs for Pacific salmon to have systematically implemented an integrated genetic broodstock management strategy, to maximize the potential genetic viability and fitness of hatchery-origin fish while, at the same time, minimizing genetic and ecological risks to the naturally spawning population of spring Chinook in the Warm Springs River. This population is currently considered healthy and self-sustaining. The Review Team expects the population viability to increase as the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon continue to make habitat improvements in the upper Warm Springs River.
The Hatchery Review Team also noted that spring Chinook program at Warm Springs NFH serves as a prototype case study in hatchery management and strategies to reduce risks to a natural population, while implementing a hatchery program intended to provide harvest benefits and achieve conservation goals. Nevertheless, significant improvements in the program and facilities are possible, as outlined in the assessments and recommendations presented in this report.
