Kootenai River White Sturgeon Studies and Conservation Aquaculture

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Kootenai River White Sturgeon Studies and
Conservation Aquaculture

• Project Sponsor
• Kootenai Tribe
• of Idaho

Funded by Bonneville Power Administration
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KootenaiTribes Approach to Fish and Wildlife
Management

• Holistic operate on a watershed scale
• Defensible science and methodology
• Biologically and logistically feasible
• Model collaborative and interdisciplinary effort
• Inclusive of social and economic issues
• Maintain strong local community support
• Encourage rigorous adaptive management

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White Sturgeon in the Kootenai River

• Separated from the rest of the Columbia
  population 10,000 years ago
• Transboundary population
• Decline in population due to results of
  development in the Kootenai drainage

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White Sturgeon Response to Development

• Failure to Complete Life Cycle
• egg suffocation/incomplete incubation
• predation
• larval food limitation/starvation
• over-wintering energy deficiency
• Result
• AGING POPULATION AND VIRTUAL LACK OF RECRUITMENT

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Libby Dam
Altered hydrograph and thermograph

• Spring flows reduced by 50 and winter flows
  increased by 300
• Thermograph warmer in winter (40C) and cooler
  in spring (20C)

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Potential Factors Contributing to Recruitment
Failure

• Hydraulic energy reduced and periodic flushing
  flows eliminated (egg suffocation) USGS, KTOI,
  IDFG
• Nutrient sink loss of productivity (starvation)
  KTOI, IDFG, MFWP, BC ME
• Disconnection of river from the floodplain
  (habitat loss, decrease in productivity) KTOI
• Species composition shift (predation) KTOI, IDFG
• Water Pollution (bioaccumulation of contaminants
  and reduced reproductive success) USFWS, KTOI

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White Sturgeon Endangered
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Priority Actions from 1999 Recovery Plan

• Flow augmentation
• Conservation aquaculture
• Re-establish suitable habitat conditions to
  increase survival past egg/larval stage

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Rationale for Conservation Aquaculture

• Preserve existing genetic variability (Kincaid
  breeding plan)
• Begin rebuilding healthy age-class structure
• Prevent extinction while measures are implemented
  to restore habitat conditions for successful
  natural recruitment

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Conservation Aquaculture Program Objectives

• Produce 4-12 families per year using wild
  broodstock from the Kootenai River
• Use preservation stocking criteria to produce up
  to 100 adults per family at reproductive age (20
  25 years)

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Monitoring and Evaluation of Program

• Survival, growth
• and condition
• Genetics
• Animal health
• Movement and habitat use

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Protocol for Conservation Aquaculture Program

• Collect and spawn 3-6 wild females and 6-12 wild
  males annually
• Maintain separate families to retain identity
• Use BC Ministry facility for back-up and
  contribution to stocking goals
• Mark with PIT tag and scute removal
• Release up to 1,500 fish per family (Age 11 to 16
  months)

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Conservation Aquaculture Program
Summary1990-2003

• Spawned 36 females and 76 males from wild white
  sturgeon population
• 76 families produced between 1990-2003
• Released over 20,000 juveniles between 1992-2002
  (Kootenai River and Kootenay Lake)

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RESULTS (continued)

• Facility upgrades initiated in 1999 to improve
  water quality and quantity, and improve
  reliability through equipment upgrades and
  redundancy

• Implemented partnership in 1999 with BC MF for
  fail-safe facility

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RESULTS (continued) Egg to Larval survival 1.8
to 86 Annual number of Families 1-11
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RESULTS (continued) Annual releases by Year Class
14 7,141
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Survival Rate Estimation
1st year 60 (10) Later yrs 90 (10)
Year-specific recapture probabilities lt0.01
to 0.30
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Growth

• Recap. release size
• Slope rate
• Individual variability
• Early drop outs
• Average 6.4 cm/yr
• WSTG 7.5 cm/yr
• 1983 wild 4.6 cm/yr

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Condition

• Often initial weight loss or no gain
• Individual variability great
• Condition factor low
• Condition increases over time

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Summary of Survival, Growth, and Condition
Analysis

• Initial adjustment period survival reduced,
  growth low, condition poor
• Individual adaptation highly variable
• Following adaptation survival excellent, growth
  significant, condition improves
• Individual growth condition in hatchery dont
  translate into the wild

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Genetics (P. Anders University of Idaho
Aquaculture Research Institute)
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Conservation Aquaculture Research

• Cryopreservation of sturgeon
• gametes (U of I)
• Animal Health Research
• (Clear Springs Foods and U of I)
• Experimental release of sac fry (IDFG, BC, KTOI)
• Research to determine effect of environmental
  contaminants on reproduction and hatching success
  (Free-Run Aquatic Research)
• Feasibility of improving spawning habitat (USGS)

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Empirically modeled trajectory of Kootenai River
white sturgeon with and without hatchery
intervention.
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Conclusion Reducing the threat of extinction and
loss of genetic variability by providing year
classes from native broodstock Program will be
updated (new and improved breeding and stocking
plan) to reflect and respond to population
demographic conditions Program will continue
until repeatable natural recruitment can be
re-established
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Cooperators

• Army Corps of Engineers
• J-U-B Engineers
• S.P. Cramer and Associates
• EcoAnalysts
• Upper Columbia United Tribes
• Oregon State
• University

• Idaho Fish and Game
• B.C. Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
• University of Idaho
• United States Geological Survey
• College of Southern Idaho
• University of California Davis
• Clear Springs Foods
• Free-Run Aquatic Research

Funded by BPA through NWPPCs Fish And Wildlife
Program and Columbia Basin Fish and
Wildlife Authority