The Resident Fish Stock Status above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams Project, commonly referred to as the Joint Stock Assessment Project (JSAP), is a management tool that uses ecosystem principles to manage fish assemblages in altered environments existing in the Columbia River System above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams (blocked area).  The fish assemblage existing today in the blocked area is drastically different than that prior to hydroelectric development, consisting of 39 known resident species, most of which are non-native.  Anadromous fish have been extirpated due to the construction of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams.  The JSAP (NWPPC 1994 program measure 10.8B.26) is designed and guided jointly by fisheries managers in the blocked area employing a three-phase approach which will enhance fisheries resources by identifying data gaps, filling data gaps with research, and implementing management recommendations based on research results.
Quantitative data on current habitat conditions, limiting factors, species composition, distribution, abundance, and life history remain lacking in many watersheds in the blocked area.  The focus of the JSAP since 1999 has been to fill these data gaps using standardized methodologies, which will continue through this funding cycle as identified in work elements A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I.  Specific projects proposed include baseline tributary fish and habitat assessments in the Priest Lake, middle Lake Roosevelt, and Colville watersheds, standardized burbot stock assessments of Bead and Sullivan lakes, baseline fish population assessments of the Middle Spokane River and lakes in the Pend Oreille and Priest Lake watersheds, determine the stock status, life histories, movements, and habitat use of redband trout in tributaries of Lake Roosevelt, the upper and lower Spokane and Little Spokane river watersheds, and developing and implementing northern pike management recommendations based on recent research results.  Data collected by and acquired through this project is stored in the JSAP Unified Database (UDB).  The synthesis of all available fish distribution, abundance, stocking history, habitat, and water quality data into one central repository provides managers the best available science with which to base management recommendations
For the purpose of avoiding redundancy, please see FY 2010 F&W Project Solicitation, Section 10, Narrative, Project ID: 199700400, for Technical and/or scientific background, Rationale and significance to regional programs, Relationships to other projects with additional cost share contributions, Project History (for ongoing projects), and Proposal biological objectives, work elements , and methods for this project.