1. West Coast Steelhead Meeting March 10, 2004 Port Ludlow, Washington
Long Live the Kings (I will refer to it as LLTK) is a private, non-profit organization committed to restoring wild salmon to the waters of the Pacific Northwest. Using a science-based, collaborative approach, LLTK projects seek to identify under what conditions hatcheries and fish rearing techniques can be used to help recover naturally spawning salmon and steelhead populations and support sustainable fisheries.
LLTK currently maintains three facilities in western Washington that host over a dozen projects aimed at salmon and steelhead conservation and providing sustainable fishing opportunities. They are: Glenwood Springs on Orcas Island, Wishkah in the Grays Harbor basin, and Lilliwaup on Hood Canal . We also work on the Hatchery Reform Project in Puget Sound and Coastal Washington, as the third party facilitator.
West Coast Steelhead Meeting March 10, 2004
Port Ludlow, Washington

2. Hal asked me to give this presentation because I have worked on and around salmon and steelhead hatcheries for all of my career. And, like it or not, hatcheries are and will be a crucial part of steelhead management planning. So I am going to focus on the role of hatcheries within the context of developing and implementing steelhead management strategies.

3. Assumptions:
Management strategies for the stock in question has been adopted by policy makers.
Legal agreements (if any) are in place.
Habitat status now and in the future is understood.
Next steps:
Assess the status of the anadromous stocks in the watershed, both wild and hatchery origin.
I am making some assumptions for the purpose of this discussion:
1. Management for the stock in question has been adopted by policy makers.
2. Legal agreements (if any) are in place understood. By legal agreements, I mean things such as court mandated management plans and mitigation agreements for dams or water use.
3. Habitat status now and in the future is understood.
The next step is to assess the status of all stocks in the watershed. Steelhead management must take into consideration the status of other salmonids –
This is for the obvious reasons like: ESA status, life history needs of those stocks and current hatchery programs in existence.

4. TRANSLATE POLICY -> GOALS
Goals for steelhead?
Harvest
Conservation
Combination harvest/conserve
Cultural significance
Goals for habitat?
Research needs?
Goals of local landowners, citizen groups?
The management philosophy or policy for must be translated into clear goals.
The goals for the steelhead stock in question can be harvest, conservation, or a combination of both. There is most likely a cultural significance, if not for tribal people, for those who live near the river and see a value in a viable steelhead population.
What about goals for habitat management? It’s important to understand the expectations for improvement or degradation of existing habitat in both the short and long term.
Acknowledge current state of information and add research as a goal if needed.
Lastly, it is important to understand the goals of the local citizens – from people who view themselves as stewards of the resource to those who see fishing as a right.

5. GOALS DEVELOPED IN THE WATERSHED FOR THE FISH
Now that you have the goals for the steelhead that you manage, you have a picture in common of what you want to future to look like.
GOALS DEVELOPED IN THE WATERSHED FOR THE FISH

6. Understanding of Current Status
And you have a common understanding of the current status of the habitat and the stocks in the basin…
Understanding of Current Status

7. Steelhead smolt grow-out pond
I am again making an assumption, for the purpose of this talk, that you will have some sort of hatchery program included in your management goals. You need to assess the hatchery facilities that are available to you to accomplish your goals.
Steelhead smolt grow-out pond

8. Assess hatchery attributes, deficiencies, current uses
The hatcheries have known attributes and deficiencies. They are also most likely fully utilized by current production of salmon, steelhead or resident trout. You will need the hatchery managers and perhaps a fish health professional familiar with the sites to give you a thorough evaluation of the physical plants, water supplies, rearing structures, budgets, and existing rearing programs.
Assess hatchery attributes, deficiencies, current uses

9. *How does current program mesh with goals?
Ask questions:
*How does current program mesh with goals?
*What will it take to establish new programs?
*What is the process for changing agreed upon rearing programs (legal agreements)?
*Is it be possible to properly evaluate current program? (If not possible, think about evaluation of future programs)
Managers may feel paralyzed by the seemingly huge differences in current hatchery programs and what you envision occurring in the future. It will be necessary to make choices, but they should be informed decisions. Ask the questions:
*How does current program mesh with goals?
*What will it take to establish new programs?
*What is the process for changing agreed upon rearing programs bound by previous agreements?
*Is it be possible to properly evaluate the current program?
If the current program is not well evaluated, think about how you would evaluate future programs before you begin them.
Next steps – beyond paralysis

10. Conservation program = wild fish life history
*Two year smolts means twice as many rearing units. New rearing strategy needed.
*Integrated program means number of smolts released will be in concert with existing carrying capacity of river. Back calculate for program.
*Evaluation means ??? Define success.
As an example, think of a theoretical conservation hatchery program that the managers have considered for a steelhead population. Steelhead have such a varied life history, and you will probably want as much of a wild-like smolt as possible, which means you may have a 2 year rather than the typical 1 year smolt rearing program. This requires more numbers of ponds or tanks, since at any one time you would have at lest two year classes on the hatchery. Hatchery staff will need assistance in developing a feeding and rearing plan that mimics wild fish growth.
At the same time, if you have an integrated program, you would need to tailor the number of the release to fit the estimated carrying capacity of the river. For instance, in the Hamma Hamma program Barry talked about earlier today, the estimated smolt carrying capacity was All facets of the program were back-calculated from that.
How will the program be evaluated? Success should be defined clearly and a plan for monitoring this in place. This will mean more than stream surveys and catch record cards. Most likely you will want to evaluate both the in river interactions of the hatchery smolts and their success as defined by you as adults. Do you want “X” number of adults spawning naturally? “X” number in the catch? “X” number of fishing opportunity days?
Example – conservation program

11. Harvest program = fish caught right place & time
*Integrated or Segregated program? Different brood stock management plans.
A harvest program should mean the hatchery fish are caught at the right time and place.
Integrated and segregated programs have different broodstock management plans.
If you are using a segregated program, you must plan for identification of the hatchery fish and removal of all adults that are not harvested from the watershed. This may mean installation of a weir such as in this photograph.
Example - Segregated harvest program

12. Integrated program = understanding population viability and abundance
Requires planning before the smolts are released.
Tissue samples for genetic sampling?
Otolith marking?
External marks?
Hatchery staff must be involved.
If you are using an integrated broodstock, how will you know the effect of the hatchery fish on the wild population?
You need to be able to understand the entire population’s viability and abundance.
This requires planning for the task before the smolts are released, most likely before the eggs are taken.
There are many options for how to do this, and most likely there will be more techniques available to you as the science to support hatchery evaluations are developed. Examples of what I am talking about are tissue sampling for genetic analysis, otolith marking by water temperature variation during incubation, or external marks such as a fin clip, floy tag, or a calcein impregnated on the scale.
In any case, the hatchery manager must be involved. The obvious reason for his or her involvement is his or her ability to do sampling or marking…but just as important, he or she needs to be a part of the evaluation process from the beginning.
Spawning ground surveys

13. At this point it may not seem that you will never get to that future goal, because of the current hatchery programs, or funding, or whatever else you can add to the list that make change seem impossible.
This is NOT TRUE. Remember that you developed your future goals in the first place with everyone who has a stake in the success of the program.
Goal for the Future

14. Plan what will get you to your goal. Start changing what you can.
Identify needs for implementation of new program.
Include hatchery staff.
Plan what will get you to your goal.
This doesn’t mean you have to stop current programs immediately. Start changing what you can.
Identify needs for implementation of new program.
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15. Hatchery biologist taking scale samples from summer chum
Hatchery managers are comfortable with what they know. Researchers and regional biologists need to empower them and include them in the decision making process to be successful. In my mind, the hatchery staff should include well trained biologists who can take plans and strategies developed in meeting rooms like this and make them real on the river.
Hatchery biologist taking scale samples from summer chum

16. Results I want to re-iterate the line ”Hatcheries are a tool”.
And add to that: A tool with real limitations that must be recognized as such – early in planning for new programs.
A tool with experienced staff who must be involved in all strategy development for new management plans.
If you start with the goals for the new programs and where you are now, you can plan all of the steps to get to where you want to go.
Use the hatchery tool to its fullest. You’ve got the facility, the water rights, the staff. You will get the desired results when you go towards the change with full awareness of all that that means.
Good Luck!
Results