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HAMMA HAMMA WINTER STEELHEAD PROJECT

HOOD CANAL STEELHEAD PROJECT

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LLTK is now in the 8th year of a 12-year plan to rebuild summer chum populations in the Hamma Hamma River and Lilliwaup Creek. Until the last few decades, every river and stream on Hood Canal teemed with returning chum each summer. But a combination of factors–including habitat loss and intermingling of the chum with heavily harvested chinook produced by state hatcheries—has decimated most of those runs. Hood Canal summer chum were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999.

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.

Winter Steelhead Rearing

Hood Canal winter steelhead numbers began to show a serious decline two decades ago, and the number of naturally spawning adults has remained precipitously low since then. In spring 1998, LLTK began a multifaceted recovery program for Hamma Hamma River winter steelhead, developed under the direction of a leading National Marine Fisheries Service scientist. It is the only captive broodstock and two-year smolts programs for steelhead in Washington State.

LLTK staff snorkel the Hamma Hamma regularly to identify steelhead redds and monitor temperatures to predict when the eggs will be eyed, so that a portion of them can be safely retrieved. Half the group is reared at Lilliwaup Hatchery and half in natural ponds on John's Creek, a tributary of the Hamma Hamma.

The first group of two-year-old smolts were released into the Hamma Hamma on Earth Day 2000—healthy, beautiful fish that appeared very wild-like. Those fish began returning to the river in March 2002. A second group of steelhead (from the same egg group as the smolts) was raised to adulthood in fiberglass tanks at Lilliwaup Hatchery. On February 28, 2002, 200 of those tagged adults were released into the Hamma Hamma River. The hatchery-reared fish were observed interacting and spawning with other steelhead, both in the Hamma Hamma River and at an artificial channel at NOAA Fisheries' Manchester Research Station. Additional steelhead continue to be raised and released on carefully controlled schedules by LLTK biologists.

A NOAA grant helps ensure rigorous evaluation of the project's success. We count returning adults by snorkeling and hook-and-line sampling, and count outmigrating fry through the use of a smolt trap (see the "Hamma Hamma smolt trap" section below). Each recovery strategy is evaluated—by rearing site (Lilliwaup vs. John's Creek) and by age of fish (adult release vs. smolt release). In addition, we are monitoring juveniles to see if previous plantings of hatchery trout in the river have affected the wild steelhead, and have collected genetic samples of resident rainbow and steelhead to monitor potential genetic risks.

Already LLTK biologists have observed more than 100 adult steelhead returning and spawning in the Hamma Hamma each of the past three years—more than 13 times the average for the previous seven years.

Chinook Conservancy

Chinook populations in Hood Canal rivers have been in trouble since the late 1970s. In response, LLTK and the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group (HCSEG) initiated a program in 1995 to reintroduce chinook to six Hood Canal rivers. LLTK and state biologists surveyed the rivers for wild chinook to use as broodstock. Unable to identify a native broodstock, we decided to use chinook eggs from a nearby hatchery. Our strategy was to give them as wild-like an environment as possible. We adopted the name "chinook conservancy site" to describe this approach. Conservancy sites are located on private property near the rivers. The goal for the program is to determine whether it is possible to recolonize a river with hatchery salmon and rely on their natural adaptability to reestablish a self-sustaining run.

Conservancy site eggs are 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 outmigrate of their own volition, and return as adults to spawn naturally. In order to estimate how many wild smolts leave the Hamma Hamma River, LLTK since 2002 has operated a screw-type smolt trap (see "Hamma Hamma smolt trap" section below) in partnership with the Port Gamble S'Klallam and Skokomish Tribes.

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 a unique signature ID pattern on a bone (otolith) in their inner ear. 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 increased tenfold, but we are still years away from a thorough understanding of whether or not this increase can be sustained. The program is slated for 12 years, which means the last year we take eggs and rear them will be 2006/2007. We will continue to monitor the results of the program for an additional 4 to 5 years.

In 1999, Puget Sound chinook and Hood Canal summer chum were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. In response, 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. We modified the last site, on the Hamma Hamma River, to include additional research goals.

Hamma Hamma Smolt Trap

In 2002 LLTK, in partnership with the Port Gamble S'Klallam and Skokomish tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), began operating a screw-type smolt trap in the Hamma Hamma River, originally to help evaluate our chinook supplementation project. However, this is the first smolt trap of its type operated on a Hood Canal stream, and LLTK biologists quickly realized that the information being gathered was important in the study of all the anadromous fish in the river.

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.

State, federal, and Tribal biologists have applauded our smolt-trap efforts and have encouraged us to continue its operation. We plan to do so for at least five years. WDFW owns the trap and secured all the permits needed to operate it. Complete data for 2002 and 2003 is available upon request from LLTK