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<h1><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Fish food: Trinity River
study looks into how hatchery fish eat wild fish<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>John
Driscoll/The Times-Standard<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Posted: 05/18/2009
01:30:13 AM PDT<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><br>
<br>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><img
width=92 height=140 id="Picture_x0020_1"
src="cid:image001.jpg@01C9D7A0.DD547A10"
alt="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site127/2009/0518/20090518__local_steelheadeatsjf_Viewer.jpg"></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
debate over how hatchery-produced salmon and steelhead can be used to bolster
runs of wild fish has long been the source of controversy -- and a new study on
the Trinity River has reawakened that discussion. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>There is
a long list of troubles biologists assign to mixing hatchery fish with wild
fish. They can compete for food, pass on disease and genetically mingle with
naturally-produced fish. A recently completed Humboldt State University
master's thesis also looks at how many young wild fish are eaten by the
relatively large, voracious steelhead released from Trinity River Hatchery each
year. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>It's
prompted many involved with the restoration of the Trinity River and its
fishery to question how the hatchery is operated, and whether that operation
may be running counter to some of the goals of its restoration program. The
Trinity River Restoration Program, authorized in a 2001 U.S. Interior
Secretary's decision, sets goals to get 40,000 naturally spawned steelhead to
return to the river, and 10,000 hatchery fish to return to the hatchery. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Since
2002, the numbers of both wild and hatchery fish have been generally rising.
But hatchery fish have far outpaced wild fish in terms of production. For
example, in 2006, about 8,000 wild fish returned to the river, while about
32,000 hatchery fish returned. In 2007, about 47,000 hatchery fish returned
compared to 7,000 wild fish. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
hatchery was built to make up for the loss of 109 miles of prime spawning
habitat above Trinity Dam. The restoration program, among many other things,
looks to improve habitat below the dam and release more water than was released
in the decades after the dam was built. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>HSU
fisheries graduate Seth Naman found in his short-term study that tens of
thousands of fry produced by fish spawning in the river are eaten by hatchery
steelhead released by the hundreds of thousands just below the dam in March, as
eggs are hatching in the river. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>About 9
percent of the fry of natural chinook and coho salmon and steelhead are
consumed in the 2-mile reach of river Naman studied -- a stretch where
particularly high concentrations of fish spawn. Naman points out that he didn't
account for hatchery-produced coho salmon, which also likely eat salmon and
steelhead fry. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>About
61,000 wild fry were eaten by some 437,000 hatchery steelhead from late March
to late April, according to Naman's estimate, with more likely consumed in the
following weeks. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>”What
I was trying to show is the potential for conflict between hatchery fish and
attempting to restore the river for naturally-produced fish,” Naman said
in an interview. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Naman now
works for the National Marine Fisheries Service, one of the agencies involved
in recommending policy for the hatchery, which is funded by the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation but operated by the California Department of Fish and Game. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Fish and
Game associate fishery biologist Wade Sinnen raised some concerns about the
study, but also said it has merit. In many ways, the study backs up what
biologists have long known: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>”When
you put a predator like a steelhead out in the river, they will eat fry,”
Sinnen said. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Sinnen
said the hatchery tries to release steelhead when they are large enough to
begin making their way to the ocean, so they aren't hanging around eating wild
fish fry and competing for food and space. He said there's been lots of
discussion about how the Reclamation Bureau's goals for the hatchery might be
changed to make it more dynamic. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>That
complex question runs up against the fact that the spawning habitat above the
dam is cut off, and it's unlikely that the remaining river habitat can produce,
on its own, enough fish to meet the goals of the restoration program. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>National
Marine Fisheries Service Area Office Supervisor Irma Lagomarcino said that
she's concerned that the operation of the hatchery may be working against the
restoration program's goals. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>”Are
we building a system just for hatchery fish to occupy?” Lagomarcino said.
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>A plan to
examine the effects of the hatchery has been the topic of talks between state
and federal agencies, the Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes, and fishing and
environmental groups, Lagomarcino said. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>How the
hatchery's operations could be changed is an open question. The timing of
hatchery fish releases, the number of fish released, the size at which they are
released, the species of fish released and other factors are all possible considerations.
<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>A recent
report commissioned by Congress on the Columbia River basin recommended that
hatcheries not harm habitat, that hatchery fish should be either genetically
separated or integrated with wild fish, and that their success should be judged
by adult returns, not how many fry are released. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Conservation
groups and the Trinity Management Council -- agencies and tribes that advise
the restoration program -- and a stakeholder's working group last spring asked
Fish and Game leadership and the Reclamation Bureau to develop a list of
changes that might be considered at the Trinity River Hatchery. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Reclamation
Bureau Mid-Pacific Region Area Manager Brian Person said that a response is
long overdue, but that the issue has proven particularly complicated. As of
now, Person said, there does not appear to be any conflict with the agency's
contract with Fish and Game in changing hatchery operations. However, the
complicated scientific issues -- and trying to find some consensus on them --
are particularly delicate, he said. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>”It's
just not that simple,” Person said, adding that a response is being
crafted. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Tom
Weseloh with California Trout said Naman's study outlines one of a slew of
problems associated with hatcheries. But while the goals of the Trinity River
Restoration Program are to allow for predominately wild fish, there is a
reality to deal with: The existence of the dam, the amount and timing of water
diversions to the Sacramento River and flows to the Trinity River all make for
a significantly different system than existed before the dam was built, he
said. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Ideally,
hatchery fish should have as little effect on wild fish as possible, he said,
while still yielding fishery benefits. While both hatchery and wild fish both
began to increase in numbers for several years after flows were increased early
this decade, last year was a particularly poor year, introducing more
complexity to the issue. Weseloh said it may be prudent to make some minor
adjustments to hatchery operations instead of wholesale changes, and adjust as
the effects are realized. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>”That's
not that radical an idea,” Weseloh said. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Naman's
study is one of few done on hatchery fish eating wild fish fry, and HSU
fisheries department chairman Dave Hankin said it's difficult to determine the
impacts on the Trinity River's entire wild salmon and steelhead populations.
Naman's study is likely to raise awareness and concern about predation, and how
to avoid the effects of it, Hankin said. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>”The
issue of competition between wild fish and releases of hatchery fish requires
lots more attention than has been given it,” Hankin said.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Byron
Leydecker, JcT</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>Chair, Friends
of Trinity River</span></i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;color:gray'>PO Box 2327</span></i><span
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