The data and lessons collected from the Evaluate Live Capture Gear project (2007-249-0) and previous seasons of the Selective Gear Deployment (2008-105-00) continue to provide the focus and direction for the selective harvest program in the upper Columbia and Okanogan river basins.  This project affects a diverse range of issues relating to salmonid populations and human health within the basin. The first and perhaps most visible achievement is already being realized; increased salmon harvest capacity enables the Colville Tribes to approach the negotiated harvest allocation and provide the Tribal membership with a valuable food resource. Less visible but equally important, the implementation of a full-scale selective fishing program in the Upper Columbia region removes not only the hatchery Chinook originating from Chief Joseph Hatchery, but also the hatchery Chinook straying from downriver programs. The harvest of only hatchery Chinook at the...  Okanogan River confluence, and conversely allowing the natural escapement of natural-origin Chinook, will increase the proportion of natural influence (PNI) on the spawning grounds by removing hatchery-origin fish before they can spawn.  This is intended to preserve the diversity and viability of the Okanogan summer/fall Chinook population and prevent future listings under the federal ESA. Additionally, the program will provide the necessary Chinook broodstock for the Chief Joseph Hatchery.  The number of fish harvested will vary by run-size, but the tribe anticipates that more than 1,500 hatchery-origin Chinook will be harvested each year.  Sockeye are not marked in a way that can be easily identified in the field and will be harvested with regard only to an annual agreement on harvest allocation levels.   As a side note, the CCT is participating in ongoing, international  Okanagan sockeye harvest allocation negotiations.

The selective gear deployment team will target only adipose fin clipped, hatchery origin Chinook to reduce the proportion of hatchery origin Chinook on spawning grounds (pHOS). The program will also be relied on to collect the yearly quota for the natural-origin Chinook broodstock needed for the Chief Joseph Hatchery program.  

Reducing the pHOS of summer Chinook and summer steelhead will create more locally-adapted populations of fish. The goal is to maintain pHOS values of less than 30 percent for both steelhead and summer/fall Chinook. Actual numbers will vary based on the PNI value being targeted each year as part of the Chief Joseph Hatchery Plan. The Evaluation of Live Capture Gear project produced results that indicated that survival rates were high for seines, less so for other techniques such as tangle nets. However, it was also found that the seining operations were insufficient on their own to remove the number of hatchery origin fish required to achieve conservation goals for the system as too many hatchery fish would spawn in the wild decreasing natural population productivity. To this end, the Colville Tribes are in process of testing a pilot, semi-permanent weir on the Okanogan River to supplement removal of hatchery fish for broodstock and to provide fish for tribal consumption.  Combined, the two techniques are expected to remove upwards of 80 percent of the surplus hatchery fish returning to the basin each year.  Removal of hatchery-origin Chinook from the Chief Joseph Dam hatchery ladder will also help to reduce pHOS in the basin.    

The main scientific focus for this program is to support the goals and objectives set forth in the HSRG.  However, the tribal membership, and other tribes in the basin, will reap the rewards of the fish distributed fresh when in season.  Fish harvested in previous years were shared with the Okanagan Nation Alliance, Coeur d'Alene, Kalispel, Kootenai, Spokane and Shoshone-Bannock tribes and plans for 2016 may also include a similar arrangement if there is again a successful harvest. In order to fully harvest fish to the tribes' allocation level, fish must be processed and stored for use at other times of the year.  

Fishing for the tribal membership is not the only type of harvest that will take place.  Broodstock will be collected for use in area hatchery-supplementation programs. The goal is to ultimately collect a maximum of 1,107 adult summer/fall Chinook for the Chief Joseph Hatchery Program (when operating at full production), with a mortality rate on natural origin fish of less than 3 percent.  

Catch and harvest data and analysis will be distributed by the end of November following each fishing season to interested parties and entities, such as the WDFW for run reconstruction.  These data will include harvest numbers from creel surveys at the Chief Joseph Dam tailrace snag fishery and totals from individual tribal members that report their catch numbers to CTFW.  CTFW employees will attend local, regional and national meetings to share data, lessons and opinions on the selective fishing program.   Show More