Programs

The Summer Chum Salmon Conservation Initiative, authored by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Point No Point Treaty Tribes in April 2000, includes supplementation programs for several watersheds, including Lilliwaup Creek and the Hamma Hamma River. NOAA Fisheries has concluded that the initiative's summer chum programs "should significantly benefit prospects for recovery of the listed Hood Canal summer chum salmon."

LLTK biologists collect fish on the Hamma Hamma by hand using a net, and on Lilliwaup Creek via a fish trap. The number of eggs taken varies from year to year depending on the size of the run; in 2003, we took approximately 82,000 eggs from the Hamma Hamma River and 112,000 from Lilliwaup Creek.

The eggs are incubated at Lilliwaup Hatchery and at the Hamma Hamma outdoor sites until they are eyed. Then, at Lilliwaup, a unique otolith mark—an identifying growth pattern in a part of the fish's inner ear—is applied to all the embryonic fish by manipulating the water temperature with a chiller. This mark allows the fish to be identified later by specific hatchery and watershed origin.

The Hamma Hamma eggs are returned to that river prior to hatching. After they hatch, both groups are fed for a short time in low-density covered ponds, and are released into their respective rivers in late winter.

These programs are showing dramatic success:

• In Lilliwaup Creek, the number of fish returning and spawning has gone from 15 to 20 per year in the 1990s to an average of nearly 600 the past two years.
• On the Hamma Hamma, the number of annual spawners has gone from around 100 in the 1990s to an average of more than 1,500 the past two years.

For more information, see WDFW's Summer Chum Salmon Conservation Initiative.

In this project, staff waited to collect eggs from adults until after they had spawned in the wild, allowing for natural selection. Eyed eggs were collected from naturally formed steelhead nests, or "redds." After the eggs hatched, the steelhead were reared in conditions that mimicked as closely as possible what their experience would have been in the wild. This technique allowed for higher rates of survival in young fish, which were then raised to either two or four years of age. When they were ultimately released, they could provide immediate contribution to the naturally spawning populations.

Outcomes of this program include:

• The number of natural spawners returning to the Hamma Hamma River annually has since increased from 17 to over 100.
• In 2009, large schools of predominantly wild-origin steelhead were observed, a signal that LLTK's efforts are working.
• In 2007, the supplementation techniques developed on the Hamma Hamma River were expanded throughout the Hood Canal as part of the basin-wide Hood Canal Steelhead Project.

In 1999, Puget Sound chinook and Hood Canal summer chum were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. LLTK, HCSEG, and the fishery co-managers terminated three of the conservancy sites—from eastern Hood Canal rivers—to protect summer chum. We discontinued two of the other sites because it was difficult to tell if they were hurting or helping chinook. Only the Hamma Hamma Chinook Conservancy Project remains.

Originally, conservancy site eggs were incubated in a simple spring-fed streamside barrel filled with plastic rings that mimic gravel, and the fry are reared for a short time in a flow-through earthen pond designed to resemble a stream. Fry would out-migrate of their own volition, and return as adults to spawn naturally.

In order to estimate how many wild smolts leave the Hamma Hamma River, since 2002 LLTK has operated a screw-type smolt trap in partnership with the Port Gamble S’Klallam and Skokomish Tribes. Besides counting the number of fry swimming downstream, LLTK staff weigh and measure individual fish and keep detailed information on river flows and temperature.

The project design compares three groups of smolts: 1. Conservancy site smolts originating from fertilized hatchery eggs; 2. Conservancy site smolts originating from artificially spawned “adapted” hatchery fish that are collected from the river; and 3. Wild smolts originating from “adapted” hatchery fish that spawned on their own. To distinguish among the three groups, all fish released are given an external mark (adipose-fin clip) so they are easily identified after release and when they return. Additionally, fish from each conservancy group are given an otolith mark. The ID pattern for each group is produced while the eggs are incubating by varying water temperatures as the otolith develops. Wild fish have an intact adipose fin and a wild (no pattern) otolith.

Successful adaptation of hatchery fish to the Hamma Hamma River will be measured by their ability to spawn and produce viable smolts: in other words, to sustain themselves with no further human intervention other than habitat and harvest protection. Our hypothesis is that each generation of hatchery fish that reproduces successfully by spawning naturally, becomes more wild-like. This hypothesis has not been tested until now and the results of this work will be an important part of the science that informs both hatchery reform and Chinook recovery planning.

The number of returning adults to the Hamma Hamma has fluctuated over the years, showing great success with the project’s initial returns from 1998-2001 and then dropping in 2002. No direct explanation for the decline in returns has been found; however, reduced water flow and crowding at the conservancy site may have affected the health and quality of fish planted, increasing the potential for mortality in the wild. In attempt to resolve this issue, in the summer of 2005, LLTK met with WDFW, the Skokomish Tribe, the Point No Point Treaty Council and the HCSEG (the parties of the Hamma Hamma Chinook Technical Workgroup) to revise the program. It was decided that the program size should be reduced to focus on quality and avoid crowding at the conservancy site and that rearing should occur in a more controlled hatchery environment for a period of time before the Chinook return to the conservancy site for acclimation and release.

Since the fall of 2005, a reduced number of Chinook eggs have been collected and the fish reared at lower densities. The fish have also been transferred to WDFW’s George Adams hatchery to be incubated and reared instead of growing them at the conservancy site. As predicted, at the time of release in May/June of 2006, the fish have been much healthier compared to previous releases.

Outcomes and current status of this program:

• 255 Chinook returned to the Hamma Hamma River after six years of returns of less than 100.
• The program was slated to end in 2007. However, the Chinook Technical Workgroup asked that the program be continued for a few additional years in light of significant improvements.
• The Workgroup will continue to evaluate the program on an annual basis. After the supplementation portion of the program is complete, monitoring and evaluation will continue for an additional three to four years to determine whether the program contributed to the rehabilitation of a self-sustaining Hamma Hamma Chinook population.

The data from the trap provides critical information for evaluation of the chinook's spawning success. Besides counting the number of fry swimming downstream, LLTK staff weigh and measure individual fish and keep detailed information on river flows and temperature. We will publish the information with the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe.

But we have also learned a great deal about the results of our steelhead rearing and about the migration timing of all species—including the timing of summer chum outmigration, which turns out to be much earlier than thought.