This project is a collaborative study to investigate approaches to increase adult steelhead returns by utilizing the kelt life stage.  Approaches range from low intensity/cost such as collect and transport kelts, to high intensity/cost methods including holding and feeding kelts for several months.  An additional directive of the project, which was the focus of project 2003-062-00, is to directly evaluate reproductive success of artificially reconditioned kelt steelhead.  The goal of the project is to develop novel steelhead restoration approaches.

The expression of iteroparity is apparently depressed in steelhead populations that spawn in tributaries located upstream of Bonneville Dam, due primarily to the hydrosystem.  Large numbers of kelt steelhead are observed at collector dams like Lower Granite Dam, but abundance of those same steelhead at Bonneville Dam is relatively small.  

The recent ESA listing of many Columbia Basin steelhead populations has prompted interest in developing reconditioning methods for wild steelhead populations within the Basin.  To address recovery and reinstate this valuable life history strategy, the Yakama Nation in collaboration with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) began capturing wild emigrating kelt steelhead from the Yakima River in 1999 to test reconditioning and the effects of several diet formulations on its success at Prosser Hatchery on the Yakima River (BPA Project 200001700).  The reconditioning project has developed techniques to successfully recondition kelt steelhead.  NOAA included kelt steelhead reconditioning in the Hydrosystem Biological Opinion with an emphasis on the Snake River.

This evaluation program is designed to investigate the reproductive success of artificially reconditioned kelt steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss.  Since direct examination of reproductive success in the field has proven very difficult, we are concentrating on measuring physiological and endocrinological parameters as an index to rematuration and reproductive success.  Additionally, we are evaluating gamete and progeny viability and conducting reproductive success studies in Omak Creek using pedigree analysis.   This project is a collaborative effort among four tribes (Nez Perce, Warm Springs, Yakama Nation, and Colville), the University of Idaho, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.  

We will apply kelt reconditioning methods developed by project 2000-017-00 with geographic replication.  We also plan to implant PIT tags in each fish (resident and anadromous forms) sampled to track their migration through the hydrosystem.  

If relative reproductive success is high, reconditioning kelt steelhead could provide a means for maintaining this natural life history characteristic and potentially aid in the recovery of listed stocks.  This study will provide resolution on uncertainty and genetic risk associated with the use of artificial propagation and reconditioning kelts in recovery of listed populations.

Objectives

1.  Plan and coordinate all aspects of project implementation including permitting, subcontracting, and logistics.  

Rationale:  This project is very complex.  It involves geographic replication of specimen collection, artificial reconditioning of post-spawn steelhead, and state-of-the-art genetic analysis.  Three different tribal fishery staffs will be conducting field collections and CRITFC will coordinate activities.  The target species is listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in all areas above Bonneville Dam, which invokes a federal permitting process.  Major coordination tasks include:

2.  Evaluate success of artificially reconditioned kelt steelhead.

Rationale:  Determining reproductive success of individual steelhead involves very intense monitoring and evaluation.  We have determined that at least 3 of 15 reconditioned kelt steelhead have successfully produced offspring in Omak Creek.  This pedigree analysis study will be continued.  Additionally, we will study endocrinology and physiology measures that are an index to rematuration and reproduction.  This work will be concentrated in the Snake River Basin, but samples will be taken from all study areas.

3.  Apply kelt steelhead reconditioning techniques at selected streams to post-spawners for release back into study streams.

Rationale:  This objective will test the following hypothesizes:
Ho:  Kelt steelhead reconditioning rates are similar spatially and temporally; and,
Ho:  Kelt steelhead rematuration rates are similar spatially and temporally.  
Additionally this objective will provide the reproductive success experiment (objective 2) with reconditioned kelt steelhead for study.
  
At each study sites (Omak Creek, Yakima River, and Clearwater River), kelt steelhead will be collected as they accumulate on the upstream side of each picket weir or other collection site.  These fish will be removed with dip nets and placed in an anesthetic tank.  Anesthetized steelhead will be visually examined to classify each fish as a kelt or prespawn individual.  Methods for visual classification are available and primarily involve keying specimens based on an imploded abdomen.  This visual technique was highly precise when compared with the use of ultrasound analysis.  If a specimen is suspected to be a pre-spawner the fish will be released on the downstream side of the weir.  Following collection anaesthetized kelts will be "in-processed", where they are scanned for a PIT tags, measured, weighed, fish color and condition noted, injected with Ivomec intubate (parasite treatment), and injected with a PIT tag if not present in the specimen.  The kelts are then held in a tank prior to transport to the reconditioning facilities.  Kelt steelhead will be transported to reconditioning facilities for culturing.  After kelt rearing/reconditioning, they will be released back into the stream of capture, and comparisons of reconditioning success among sites will be made.

4.  Investigate and develop approaches to utilize the steelhead kelt life stage to increase steelhead populations.

Rationale:  Providing assistance to post-spawn steelhead in the forms of transportation, feed, and prophylactic measures may increase the probability that individual steelhead repeat spawn and contribute to population growth.  In this objective we measure the variation in steelhead response to intervention method.  Further we are attempting to identify locations that are particularly problematic to steelhead kelt migrations in the lower Columbia River and estuary.

In this objective we will study the physiology and endocrinology of steelhead kelts with a goal of evaluating the feasibility and success of several strategies for rehabilitating and handling of steelhead captured at Lower Granite Dam or at other sites during their downstream migration in the Snake River system. Our research will focus on the physiology, health and condition of both B and A stocks of steelhead trout. Through this research we will pose, develop and test protocols that can be used to collect and transport spent spawners, rehabilitate them for the most effective period of time to maximize their ability and contribution to the next spawning generation.  Our focus is to develop the background science needed for evaluating different production plans for rehabilitation of kelts. The second and third years of the study will focus on more specific studies using metrics developed in the first year as evaluation tools. The second and third year of the study will test larger groups of fish and utilized some seawater testing systems. The details and infrastructure planning aspects of this project are recognized as goals during the first year of this project.  The majority of this work will be conducted under subcontract to the University of Idaho.
  
5.  Evaluate progeny and gamete viability from  reconditioned kelt steelhead.

Rationale:  This objective is addressing the effect of artificial reconditioning on gamete and progeny development.  Work is performed at the Parkdale Fish Hatchery located on the Hood River, Oregon.  The premise is to collect hatchery-origin prespawn adults and place them in a hatchery.  After the female fish are ripe they are air spawned, eggs are fertilized with cryopreserved milt, and the offspring are raised for several weeks while recording various measures of quality.  Female steelhead after air spawning are placed in tanks and reconditioned in a manner similar to our other long-term reconditioning treatments (Prosser and Omak).  This experiment utilizes a replicated, repeated measures experimental design, to assess and compare egg and progeny viability of reconditioned vs. first time spawners.  Long-term reconditioning and subsequent captive spawning provides us with means to obtain valuable quantitative data on gonad processes, maturation rates and juvenile survival.   Data resulting from this research will greatly contribute to the evaluation of reconditioning as a conservation tool.    The hypothesis we are testing is:

Ho: Measures of gamete and progeny viability and quality are similar between first spawning and second spawning following artificial reconditioning.