1. Okanagan Sockeye Reintroduction program 18 October, 2012 Portland, Oregon Howie Wright

2. 8 Communities 1. Lower Similkameen Indian Band 2. Upper Similkameen Indian Band 3. Osoyoos Indian Band 4. Penticton Indian Band 5. Westbank First Nation 6. Okanagan Indian Band 7. Upper Nicola Band 8. Colville Tribes

3. Salmon Integral to Okanagan Culture

4. Commercial Salmon Fisheries U.S. (1870s) Historical decisions did not consider importance to Okanagan fisheries – Mainstem Columbia River Dams (1933) – Grand Coulee Dam blocks access to Upper Columbia (1938) – Grand Coulee Dam Fish Maintenance Project (1939-1943) – Columbia River Treaty (1961) – Okanagan River Channelization and salmon Access in Okanagan River restricted (McIntyre Dam -1915) History

5. Sockeye Chinook – COSEWIC designation Steelhead – Present Coho – extirpated Sturgeon - ??? Lamprey- ??? What is left?

6. Background: Okanagan Sockeye Okanagan Wenatchee ARROW LAKES Columbia River sub-basins historically accessible to sockeye Columbia River sub-basins with present day viable sockeye populations Okanagan sockeye population is one of three remaining Columbia River stocks

7. History of Okanagan Sockeye

8. Habitat and Fish Passage: McIntyre Dam Before After

9. Okanagan River in 1938 and 1996

10. Habitat and Fish Passage: ORRI Phase 1 DYKE SETBACK GRAVEL BARS © One Wild Earth © Kevin Dunn RE- MEANDERING SPAWNING PLATFORM RIFFLE BeforeAfter

11. Fish Water Management Tools

12. Initiated by the Okanagan Nation in 1996 COBTWG (Central Okanagan Basin Technical Working Group) 12 Year Reintroduction Program (2004-2015) into Skaha Lake Adaptive management framework Funded by Grant and Chelan County Public Utility District (Columbia hydro mitigation) Stepwise approach prior to Okanagan Lake Extensive Monitoring Decision at end of program for passage Program focused now on not if but how many Looking at fishway designs Skaha Lake sockeye Reintroduction Program Overview

16. Key questions include (not limited to): What impacts will sockeye have on existing kokanee stocks? What components of the food web and physical environment most strongly control the production of sockeye and kokanee? What are the effects on the existing Osoyoos sockeye population? Program Overview: Key Questions ?

17. Summary of Results to Date Results from monitoring impacts of sockeye reintroduction are promising so far Relatively good juvenile abundance, growth, and survival Low impact to resident kokanee Increased understanding that Mysis shrimp are driving the foodwebs Increased Okanagan River sockeye escapement in recent years, but many factors involved and we expect to see some smaller runs in the near future

18. Why Hatchery? Program requirements for Sockeye Project was to push in-lake capacity of Skaha Lake Model suggested 1000 fry/ha prior to seeing reduced growth and survival of 0+ Kok Selected 1,750 fry/ha, 3.5 million released fry or 5 million eggs located in Penticton Building to 8 million capacity Skaha 2000 ha lake so about 1.75 million smolts Developed before knowing PUD mitigation requirements Why a Hatchery?

19. Hatchery planning in Canada? In Canada, there is the Wild Salmon Policy which one of the requirements is to safeguard genetic diversity DFO Salmonid Enhancement Program (SEP) guidelines PUDs require an HGMP - Okanagan sockeye HGMP Hosted workshop of U.S./Canadian expertise to: 1.Develop HGMP 2.See what we could be collecting now to help with long term planning 3.Look at our broodstock collection and fry release methods and suggestions for improvements of program overall Hatchery Planning in Canada?

20. Hatchery planning in Canada? Stock recovery management – Segregated versus integrated? 1, 2, 3 populations in the Okanagan (Osoyoos, Skaha, Okanagan) – Other systems (e.g. Lake Cle Elum – Okanagan/Wenatchee)? – Long term how to manage harvest? Okanagan Nation – Focus on restoration – Not going to get all habitat and production back, how will hatchery contribution be used for harvest? PUDs – As we recover, what happens if we dont need hatchery for Skaha? Okanagan? – As we increase sockeye, how does this affect mitigation requirements? Hatchery questions?

21. How are the sockeye run doing? Experiment Begins

22. Why Hatchery? Many Factors: Cultural ceremonies – headwater, winter dances, first salmon Habitat – water management, habitat restoration Harvest – Snake River sockeye limitations? Hydro – Judge Redden orders Ocean survival hatchery contribution Why a the increase?

24. Food fisheries/culture Salmon feast at Okanagan Falls Salmon in diet Revitalizing a fishery Cultural ceremonies

25. Starting to see benefits-economic and recreational fisheries

27. Its not just a sockeyeSharing a StoryCertification Traditional/responsible trade Changing attitude on river fish in Canada Moving fisheries inland

28. Thank you! (Lim Limpt)