Columbia River : Select Area Fishery Evaluation project : 1995-96 Annual Reports. Page: 16 of 212
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Columbia River Terminal Fisheries Research Project was initiated in 1993 and retitled
the Select Area Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Project in October 1997. In referring to the
project in this report the preferred title, SAFE, will be used in most cases.
Water quality monitoring was conducted from November 1994 through October 1996 at
five Oregon and three Washington select area study sites in the lower Columbia River.
Physicochemical monitoring and aquatic biomonitoring programs were established to
profile baseline parameters at each study site and document differences between study
sites. Data collected at study sites where fish rearing operations were initiated indicate a
potential negative impact on the surrounding benthic invertebrate communities.
Recommended actions to reduce impacts include reducing amount of feed, lowering
rearing densities, and leaving questionable sites fallow for one or more rearing seasons.
Monitoring will continue to delineate indices of organic pollution that will signal necessary
actions to maintain the health of the ecosystems adjacent to net-pen rearing operations.
Homing and straying rates have been calculated for 1993 brood coho to evaluate each
study site's capability to successfully acclimate and imprint smolts. Stray rates of 0% for
Youngs Bay, 0.5% for Blind Slough, 1.3% for Deep River, and 4.8% for Tongue Point
compare favorably to results for previous net-pen releases at Youngs Bay. The only strays
recovered were from Big Creek and Grays River hatcheries.
Select Area Brights (SAB) fall chinook released from Big Creek Hatchery have resulted in
an alarmingly high stray rate while in contrast, releases from Youngs Bay net pens have
produced substantially lower rates averaging only 2% to Washington lower Columbia
streams. As a result, the broodstock program has been abandoned at Big Creek Hatchery
and moved to Klaskanine Hatchery in the Youngs Bay drainage.
The potential of the study sites to harvest target species while avoiding non-target species
was determined by test gillnetting during spring and fall months. In the spring, Tongue
Point, Deep River, Blind Slough, and Steamboat Slough have the greatest potential.
Similarly, in the fall the same sites plus Clifton Channel have good potential. Consistent
test fishing results have been obtained since the program's inception.
Using test fishing results the initial SAFE fall commercial seasons were established in
Tongue Point Basin, Blind Slough, and Deep River. Experimental releases of 1993 brood
coho produced adult returns to select area fisheries which comprised 79% of the total
commercial harvest of coho in the entire Columbia River. Adult survival rates for select
area net-pen coho ranged from 3.8% to 1.6%, while Columbia River hatcheries generated
adult survival rates of less than 1%. Nearly 100% of net-pen released coho were
accounted for as harvest while most of the coho released from hatcheries were accounted
for as adult escapement in 1996. Select area fall commercial fisheries in 1996 were
successful in minimizing impacts on listed salmon under the Endangered Species Act.
Only 18 upriver bright fall chinook were caught in select area fisheries with less than one
Snake River wild fall chinook.
The anadromous fish stocks selected for use in select area rearing sites include early
stock coho, SAB fall chinook, and Willamette spring chinook. Various rearing and release
strategies including time and size of release, rearing density, and seasonal feeding
experiments are being implemented. Health of juveniles is routinely monitored to aid in
evaluation of release strategies and resultant survival rates as adults.xiii
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Hirose, Paul; Miller, Marc & Hill, Jim. Columbia River : Select Area Fishery Evaluation project : 1995-96 Annual Reports., report, June 1, 1998; Oregon. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc628523/m1/16/: accessed May 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.