Response requested comment:

This long-running lamprey recovery and conservation project has helped to restore lamprey to the Umatilla and Grande Ronde subbasins by translocating adults and improving passage for adults and juveniles. These efforts appear to have substantially increased the distribution and abundance of juvenile lamprey. Introductions of hatchery juveniles into the Walla Walla and Tucannon subbasins are also planned. The project is credited with developing methods that are now used elsewhere in the Basin to improve artificial propagation and passage for lamprey. Project personnel are participating in regional planning committees and have helped develop documents that are being used to guide lamprey research and recovery efforts throughout the Basin.

To complete our review, however, we request that the proponents:

1.      Clarify each of the six major objectives for 2020-2024 by adding quantitative detail and timelines.

2.      Describe the adaptive management process (i.e., review cycles) by which decisions to alter course are being made.

3.      Provide information on how monitoring data will be used to assess progress toward restoration.

Comment:

1. Objectives, Significance to Regional Programs, and Technical Background

The proposal clearly explains why this project was initiated and how it addresses biological objectives identified in the Pacific Lamprey Restoration Initiative and other agreements, as well as critical uncertainties identified in the Fish and Wildlife Program. The primary goal is to restore Pacific lamprey to self-sustaining and harvestable levels in the Umatilla, Walla Walla, Grande Ronde, and Tucannon subbasins. In 1994, when the project began, Pacific lamprey were at risk of being extirpated from the ceded lands of the CTUIR. Additionally, little was known about the biology of Pacific lamprey or about the many factors constraining their abundance. Work being performed by the project addresses all four major themes in the Council's Fish and Wildlife Program.

The proposal includes six general objectives which lack quantitative elements that could be used to measure progress. (We also note an apparent inconsistency in the Executive Summary which mentions eight "future objectives"). Anticipated benefits to lamprey recovery are not described quantitatively. Twenty-six deliverables are clearly linked to the six objectives, but only a few of the deliverables include quantitative details. Most deliverables are expected annually from 2020 to 2024. Deliverable #21 appears to be misnamed; its current descriptor suggests that genetic samples will be obtained from the hatchery lamprey being released into nature. Yet, the true objective of this task is to mark/tag a portion of these fish using non-genetic methods. A desired tagging/marking rate should be indicated.

2. Results and Adaptive Management

The latest Annual Report provides extensive summaries of activities and cumulative progress from 1995 to 2014, and a table in the proposal provides a summary of annual accomplishments to 2018. The project has contributed to Pacific lamprey conservation and recovery plans through successful collaboration with other tribal, federal, and state agencies. Notable examples include the 2017 Synthesis Report (CRITFC 2017a), which was reviewed favorably by the ISRP (ISRP 2018-02), and the 2018 Pacific Lamprey Supplementation Master Plan Step Review, also reviewed favorably by the ISRP at step 2 (ISRP-2018-05).

Adult translocation efforts associated with this project have increased juvenile Pacific lamprey abundance in the Umatilla subbasin. Moreover, pheromones from these juveniles appear to have attracted a steadily increasing number of adults into the Umatilla subbasin. Genetic samples were collected from all translocated adults to determine if progeny are returning to spawn in the Umatilla subbasin. Adult lamprey were also equipped with radio telemetry tags to identify and mitigate barriers to lamprey passage.

The project provides new knowledge on methodological issues and status and trends that are broadly applicable to Pacific lamprey populations throughout the Columbia Basin. For example, the proponents are credited with developing a method for PIT-tagging juvenile lamprey that is used throughout the Basin to provide insights about juvenile movements and passage success. The proponents are now (1) using acoustic tags in juvenile lamprey to increase knowledge of the threats during downstream migration and (2) investigating the use of eDNA to assess lamprey distribution.

The Adaptive Management section of the proposal includes good examples of lessons that have shifted the focus of the project moving forward. For example, the proposal mentions that the project has evolved from mostly research to mostly applied restoration and monitoring. However, neither the proposal nor the annual report describes the process (i.e., review cycles) by which such decisions to alter course are being made. A description of the process for adaptive management, and examples of how the project has used it to modify recovery actions and monitoring would be useful.

Annual reporting is behind schedule—the most recent annual report is for 2013-14. However, that report is well written and provides detailed information on objectives, methods, and results, as well as a discussion of cumulative results to date. Some project results have been published in the peer-review literature, presented at conferences and to the Council, and shared through public education and outreach.

3. Methods: Project Relationships, Work Types, and Deliverables

The proposal provides a good overview of activities and methods, and the 2013-14 annual report provides sufficient detail for a rigorous review of methods. Methods seem appropriate and both reports use the published literature to justify assertions and support procedures.

This project aims to serve a long-term monitoring and assessment function. The proposal and 2013-14 Annual Report together provide appropriate detail about the types of monitoring activities that have been conducted or planned. However, it is not clear how the monitoring data are being used to assess progress toward restoration. Research has been an important component of this project, but hypothesis testing is not described.

The proposal would be strengthened by including additional information on how juvenile abundance and distribution data will be estimated. The current description is limited to determining larval abundance at individual sampling sites. The proposal should also describe the procedures that will be used to choose the number and location of juvenile lamprey index sites, as well as the criteria that will be used to identify adult and juvenile passage problems. More details are also needed on the methods that will be used to transfer and release hatchery larvae into the Walla Walla and Tucannon subbasins.

ISRP response for 1994-026-00 Pacific Lamprey Research and Restoration Project

Question 1 Response:

We provided more detail and timelines to each of the six objectives under the Objectives section of the proposal. We broke out the timelines within the summary detail section for each objective to provide more clarification as to when each objective would be occurring.

Question 2 Response:

Added additional detail on applied adaptive management detail within Phases and continuing through Phases 1-4 in the Adaptive Management section of the proposal

Question 3 Response:

Our main/basic hypothesis is that various life stages of lamprey can be successfully held and produced in a laboratory environment (Phase 1) and outplanted to the natural environment with documented survival success (Phase 2).  Following outplanting, survivals for each resulting life history stage will be monitored for each strategy in each subbasin.  The most successful survival strategies will be advanced to maximize the likelihood of lamprey restoration in the natural environment.

 Additional Updates:

Section 1 Objectives, Significance to Regional Programs, and Technical Background Updates:

• Deliverable 21 was updated with appropriate deliverable title and deliverable description section and added methodology with links to monitoring resources protocols.

Section 2 Results and Adaptive Management Updates:

• Updates were addressed in Question 2 response above

Section 3 Methods Updates:

• We provide more information on the methods used for estimating juvenile abundance data. This can be found in the Deliverable 3 description.

• We included a new reference in the Reference section and in Objective 2 of the proposal (Reid and Goodman, 2015) which will help guide decisions on how to choose the number and location of juvenile lamprey index sites.

• Added more language on criteria that will be used to identify adult (Deliverable 10 description) and juvenile passage problems (Deliverable 16 description).

• We provided more details on the methods that will be used to transfer and release hatchery larvae into the Walla Walla and Tucannon subbasins.  This can be found in the Objective 5 summary details section.