46273 REL 26

2002-031-00 EXP NOAA GROWTH MODULATION IN SALMON SUPPLEMENTATION

6/1/2011

5/31/2012

157. Collect/Generate/Validate Field and Lab Data

Work Element Usage Report

L: 157 - Estimate precocious maturation rate of Yakima hatchery spring Chinook salmon

Objective 3a) Long-term minijack monitoring-Yakima Spring Chinook salmon.

The purpose of this WE (157) is to collect data to accurately assess the incidence of 1+ precocious male maturation for brood year 2010 Yakima hatchery spring Chinook salmon released from the Easton, Jack Creek, and Clark Flat acclimation sites in spring 2012. Both NOAA personnel under this contract and University of Washington personnel under a separate contract will assist with these collections of data. In cooperation with Joy Evered and staff (USFWS pathologist) we will sacrifice 60 fish/raceway for length, weight, visual assessment of gonadal development, and plasma 11-ketotestosterone levels (a reproductive steroid that indicates initiation of the maturation process). Furthermore, approximately 90,000 spring Chinook smolts being reared at the Cle Elum Supplementation facility are part of a long term "hatchery domestication" experiment. These fish are the progeny of a uniquely tagged line of hatchery fish that are repeatedly being crossed as a "domesticated" line to document potential phenotypic and genotypic changes resulting from domestication selection. Starting in 2006 with brood year 2004 fish we sampled an extra 120 fish each spring to obtain an accurate assessment of the rate of precocious male maturation in this stock for comparison to the rest of the "supplemented" fish in the Yakima program. To date, there appears to be a significant decrease in precocious male maturation in the domesticated line in most years monitored. These data will provide long-term monitoring of these developmental trends. Samples will be collected in March of 2012 during the routine pathogen screening prior to the opening of the gates for volitional release. These samples will then be analyzed for 11-ketotestosterone level (11-KT) according to Cuisset et al. (1994). The end date for this monitoring effort is estimated to be 2015 at the end of the final year of year three funding associated with the end of the next 3 year solicitation interval.
Fish #'s
60 fish/raceway X 6 raceways X 50% males = approximately 180 males screened/site
Additional 120 samples collected at Clark Flat as part of domestication experiment
Total # fish = 1200 fish/year or approximately 600 male fish analyzed/year

Expectations: The expectation from this objective is that the hatchery fish reared in the programs conventional manner will differ from the wild fish. The incidence of age 1+ precocious male maturation will be approximately 30-50% at each acclimation site.

Cuisset, B., P. Pradelles, D. E. Kime, E. R. Kuhn, P. Babin, F. Le Menn. 1994. Enzyme immunoassay for 11-ketotestosterone using acetylcholinesterase as label. Application to the measurement of 11-ketotstosterone in plasma of Siberian sturgeon. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 108:229-241.

1. Collect data on the prerelease gender ratios of 1,080 brood year 2010 Yakima hatchery spring Chinook reared under Conventional and Modified growth regimes at the Easton, Jack Creek, and Clark Flat Acclimation sites (60 fish per raceway x 6 raceways per site).
2. Collect data on the prerelease length and weight of 1,080 Yakima hatchery spring Chinook reared at the Easton, Jack Creek, and Clark Flat Acclimation sites (60 fish per raceway x 6 raceways per site).
3. Collect plasma samples of 1,080 Yakima hatchery spring Chinook reared at the Easton, Jack Creek, and Clark Flat Acclimation sites (60 fish per raceway x 6 raceways per site). These samples will be analyzed for the reproductive steroid 11-ketotestosterone and used to estimate the proportion of precociously maturing males in the population. Plasma samples have to be collected from all fish including females at the time of sampling. However, only the plasma samples from the males (approximately 540) are analyzed for 11-KT through the University of Washington Contract associated with this project.
5. Collect additional length, weight, gender ratio and precocious male maturation rates from 120 additional fish that are progeny from the separate domesticated hatchery broodstock. These data will be compared with that of the supplemented stocks in the program (see WE description).
6. Analyze 600 plasma samples for 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT).

$15,000

5.58%

06/01/2011

05/31/2012

05/24/2012

Concluded

n/a

n/a

Recurring