2020 State of the Fishery Report

Details

Published: Friday, 08 May 2020 21:40

Fishery managers representing the Spokane Tribe, Colville Tribes, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Volunteer Net Pen project presented their 2020-2025 plans to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council on March 3rd. Based on proposals and presentations, the Council makes funding and program recommendations to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Fish and Wildlife Program. These presentations, combined with interviews with managers and related materials, are the foundation for the Forum’s 2020 Fishery Report.

2015-2019: A Consistent, Stable Fishery

The overarching goal of the fisheries program is to support tribal subsistence and non-tribal recreational fisheries. Annual angler catch of all species, within Lake Roosevelt ranged from 154,616 in 2015 to 140,249 in 2018. Creel survey results estimating the number of hours anglers spent fishing were between 311,417 hours in 2015 and 293,065 hours in 2018.

Figure A shows the annual catch for rainbow trout, kokanee, walleye and smallmouth bass for 2015-2018. Because walleye and smallmouth bass are non-native species (meaning they were introduced to the lake), they do not receive artificial production support from hatchery and net pen operations.

Changes in abundance from year to year often parallel changes and timing of lake operations. For instance, the timing and depth of drawdowns for flood control and refill can affect when rainbow trout are released from net pens, entrainment (fish being flushed passed Grand Coulee Dam), and lost habitat and food resources. Other factors include hatchery and net pen conditions, and the effect of non-native predators such as northern pike.

The heart of the hatchery and net pen program will remain raising of up to 750,000 triploid rainbow trout. Up to 500,000 of these are initially reared in local hatcheries and then transferred to one of 45 net pens located throughout the lake. Based on conditions, the actual numbers released into the lake varied from about 360,000 to 700,000 annually between 2015 and 2018.

Triploids are used because they are bred with three sets of chromosomes instead of two to make them infertile, thus protecting the gene pool of wild rainbow trout.

Program Change Highlights: Kokanee Production Suspended, Larger Rainbow Trout Released into Spokane Arm

For several years, up to 500,000 kokanee salmon were raised for release into the lake. The minimal target of 5% annual return to creel, however, could not be attained. As such, starting this year the kokanee artificial production program was suspended. Wild kokanee remain in the lake for anglers to seek.

There will be several shifts in rainbow trout production and transfer between the Spokane Tribal Hatchery, Sherman Creek Hatchery, Ford Hatchery and net pens. The net result is that the Spokane Tribal Hatchery will be able to produce up to 53,000 rainbow trout of harvestable size (1-3 lbs) for release at different times of the year.

As part of this change, these larger rainbow trout will also be transferred to a recommissioned fish acclimation facility located below Little Falls Dam that was originally built by Washington Water Power (now Avista) in the 1990s. With BIA funding, the Spokane Tribe renovated this facility in 2019 to provide five raceways for these fish to finish their growth and acclimate to river conditions.

The goal is to provide additional tribal and recreational fishery opportunities in the Spokane Arm, and improve angler opportunities for catching fish at different times

of the year. Said Brent Nichols, the Spokane Tribal Fisheries Division Director, “Before COVID-19 suspended monitoring efforts, the initial results were outstanding with the Spokane Arm trending toward becoming a high use area up near the Little Falls Dam.”

Upper Columbia White Sturgeon

The 2019 fishery season supported state anglers receiving half of the white sturgeon harvestable surplus with the remaining half split equally between the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Colville Confederated Tribes.

In 2002 biologists representing governments, tribes and First Nations from the U.S. and Canada began working cooperatively by creating the Upper Columbia White Sturgeon Recovery Initiative. Their goal is to arrest and reverse their decline by restoring natural recruitment.

White Sturgeon in our waters started experiencing chronic recruitment failure in the 1960s. While the mechanisms causing recruitment failure are currently unknown, research by biologists show that White Sturgeon are spawning on an annual basis. They believe recruitment failure is happening at some point between the larval/juvenile life stages.

Efforts from both the Canadian and U.S. conservation aquaculture programs have succeeded in rebuilding the natural age class structure and preventing their expiration. Since 2004, their combined efforts have resulted in release of more than 153,000 juvenile White Sturgeon. Both programs take a conservative approach with the goal to protect and preserve the remaining genetic diversity of the population.

Due to higher than expected survival rates of hatchery released White Sturgeon, the fishery was reopened in the spring of 2017 for the first time in over 20 years. Current conservation aquaculture stocking rates are intended to reach adult abundance targets and sustain an annual subsistence and recreational fishery.

State anglers are advised to check the WDFW fishing regulation pamphlet for daily and annual harvest regulations, slot limits and area closures.

Northern Pike: The Fight to Suppress Continues

Flatten the curve can also be used to describe fishery manager efforts to suppress Northern Pike in Lake Roosevelt. This non-native invasive species is a voracious predator that devastates other resident fish populations. As importantly, if they move down the Columbia, they may devastate salmon and steelhead populations.

To meet the challenge, over $1 million is now spent annually to suppress Northern Pike in Lake Roosevelt. Funding comes from BPA, tribes, utilities, and others. Since 2015, over 12,600 pike have been removed from the system.

Northern Pike are still primarily located in the northern part of Lake Roosevelt and spawning in the Kettle River. In 2019, potentially new spawning locations were identified in the Barnaby and Gifford areas, and monitoring showed increased presence in the Spokane Arm and lower lake.

Suppression efforts led by the Spokane Tribe, Colville Tribes and WDFW focus on gillnetting from February through November, and electrofishing and set lines in August through October.

Anglers are encouraged to kill ALL Northern Pike caught. The Colville Tribes also provide a $10 bounty for anglers who remove their heads and drop them off at either the Tribal Trails Noisy Water gas station or the NPS Kettle Falls, Hunters and Fort Spokane fish-cleaning stations.