Nez Perce Tribe

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The Nez Perce Tribe Listed Stock Salmonid Gamete
Preservation
William Young, Paul Kucera and Jay Hesse

• Nez Perce Tribe
• Department of Fisheries Resources Management

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• Snake River spring/summer chinook
• Snake River steelhead
• Both listed as threatened under the ESA

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Number of redds counted in 6 rivers in the Snake
River basin from 1958-2002
Annual redd counts 10 year moving ave.
Number of Redds
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Project Chronology

• 1992 First collections, LSRCP funded, UI and
  WSU collaborations
• 1996 BPA proposal
• 1997 First collections as a BPA funded project
• 2001 Second BPA funding cycle

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Regional Support and Collaborations

• Cost Share
• LSRCP
• WSU
• UI
• Regional Support and Benefit
• IDFG
• WDFW
• ODFW
• Kootenai Tribe

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Snake River Salmonid Gamete Preservation Plan
Goal

• Preserve the genetic diversity of Pacific
  northwest salmonids for conservation and recovery
  efforts

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Applications of Cryopreservation to Preserve
Genetic Diversity

• Long term
• Increase effective number of breeders - Nb
• Insurance against catastrophic population
  collapse
• Maintain future options
• Short term
• Conventional hatchery broodstock management
• Inadequate number of males
• Avoid sib matings
• Captive broodstock programs

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Collection Objectives

• 100 individuals / year for one generation from
  each spawning aggregation
• Chinook Salmon
• Steelhead

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Effective Population Size - Ne

• Ne is the size of an ideal population that
  maintains genetic variation at the same rate as a
  real population (N) of interest
• Factors that cause a real population to diverge
  from an ideal population
• unequal sex ratios
• nondiscrete generations
• nonrandom mating
• unequal family sizes
• variable population size

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The relationship between Nb and N

• Nb/N ratios for anadromous fish are typically 0.1
  to 0.4
• Nb of approximately 50
• 95 probability of rare allele retention
• Requires N 125-500 / generation

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Among Population Genetic Diversity of
Cryopreserved Samples
Marsh Creek
UPGMA Neis Genetic Distance
Upper Salmon
Imnaha River
Lostine River
Pahsimeroi River
South Fork Salmon River
Rapid River
Big Creek
Lake Creek
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Within Population Genetic Diversity Among brood
year genetic variation
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Effective Brood Year Analysis

• A way to measure the composition of gamete
  samples collected from adults spanning multiple
  generations.
• Strive for an even representation of fish from
  different brood years across multiple generations.

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EBY 1
EBY 2
EBY 3
EBY 4
EBY 5
Total
100
Year 1
100
Year 2
100
Year 3
Year 4
100
Year 5
100
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Gamete Collections Under Ideal Circumstances
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Total
EBY 1
EBY 2
EBY 3
EBY 4
EBY 5
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Year 1
16
Year 2
38
Year 3
Year 4
26
Year 5
33
14
Year 6
41
Year 7
. . . Year n
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SFSR Chinook Salmon Effective Brood Year
analysis
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Project Successes

• Largest salmonid genebank in North America
• 2240 chinook salmon gamete samples preserved from
  13 spawning aggregations
• 1210 steelhead gamete samples preserved from 12
  spawning aggregations
• Annual fertilization trials
• Annual genetic analyses
• Numerous experiments aimed at improving the
  viability of cryopreserved sperm
• Experiments aimed at assessing the viability of
  fish produced using cryopreserved sperm

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Chinook Salmon Gamete Collections, 1992 - 2004
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Chinook Salmon Gamete Collections, 1992 - 2003
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TRT Chinook Salmon Populations

• Grande Ronde Basin
• Catherine Creek
• Wallowa/Lostine Rivers
• Minam River
• Upper Grande Ronde
• Wenaha River
• Imnaha Basin
• Big Sheep Creek
• Imnaha mainstream
• Lower Snake Basin
• Tucannon River
• Asotin Creek
• South Fork Salmon Basin
• Secesh River
• SFSR
• EFSFSR/Johnson Creek
• Salmon River Tribs
• Chamberlain Creek
• Little Salmon River

• Middle Fork Salmon Basin
• Bear Valley/Elk Creeks
• Big Creek
• Camas Creek
• MFSR below Indian Creek
• Pistol Creek
• Marsh Creek
• Sulphur Creek
• Loon Creek
• MFSR above Indian Creek
• Upper Salmon Basin
• Valley Creek
• Lemhi River
• NF Salmon River
• Pahsimeroi River
• EF Salmon River
• Upper Salmon River
• Yankee Fork

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Steelhead Gamete Collections, 1993 - 2004
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Steelhead Gamete Collections, 1993 - 2004
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TRT Steelhead Populations

• Lower Snake Basin
• Tucannon River
• Asotin Creek
• Clearwater Basin
• Lower Clearwater
• South Fork
• Lolo Creek
• Lochsa River
• Selway River
• Grande Ronde Basin
• Lower Grande Ronde
• Joseph Creek
• Wallowa River
• Upper Grande Ronde

• Salmon Basin
• Little Salmon
• South Fork
• Secesh River
• Chamberlain Creek
• Big, Camas, Loon
• Upper Middle Fork
• North Fork
• Lemhi River
• Pahsimeroi River
• East Fork
• Upper Salmon
• Imnaha Basin
• Imnaha River
• Hells Canyon
• Hells Canyon

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Genetic Analyses Chinook Salmon

• Average Heterozygosity 2 microsatellite loci
• Imnaha River .59 206 450
• Lostine River .54 24 101
• Rapid River .53 147 217
• Lake Creek .47 48 109
• SFSR .57 192 349
• Big Creek .61 60 133
• Marsh Creek .58 30 87
• Pahsimeroi River .53 88 185
• Upper Salmon River .58 79 293

Total Samples
H
N
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Genetic Analyses - Steelhead

• Mitochondrial Haplotype Analysis D-loop
  sequencing
• Dworshak 296 41 4
• Little Sheep Creek 350 48 4
• Pahsimeroi River 210 42 4
• Oxbow Hatchery 307 44 5

Total
Analyzed
haplotypes
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Future Directions

• Continue to collect at current level
• Work to increase regional support for the project
• Maintain a collaboration with the USDA National
  Animal Germplasm Program
• Establish a regional repository

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Acknowledgments

• Lower Snake River Compensation Project
• Bonneville Power Administration
• University Collaborators
• Joe Cloud, Gary Thorgaard, Paul Wheeler
• Nez Perce Tribe
• Jay Hesse, Mike Blenden, Mary Edwards, Nym
  Johnnie, Robyn Armstrong, Neal Espinosa, Cameron
  Albee, Joe McCormack, the McCall field office