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Methow Valley News July 20, 2000 Endangered Species Chinook salmon escape clubbing in Methow Entiat adults will go to Okanogan by Lee Hicks Hatchery officials confirmed Monday (July 17) that no Carson stock spring Chinook salmon will be clubbed at Methow hatcheries this year. Officials also announced that 50 pair each of adult spring Chinook salmon could be planted in Salmon and Omak creeks in an agreement reached with the Colville Confederated Tribes. The salmon will be relocated from the Entiat federal hatchery, where some fish have already been clubbed to death this year. The Colvilles, however, have announced they will hold a public hearing at 7 p. m. Thursday (July 20) at the Western Restaurant in Okanogan to discuss whether fish will be planted this year in Salmon Creek. The Colvilles and the Okanogan Irrigation District have been working to restore fish habitat in Salmon Creek. Some irrigation district officials have expressed concern that habitat work might not be completed in time for expected return of migrating fish in three years. The new plan has apparently resulted from tribal pressure over an earlier plan to kill the Carson stock fish in Winthrop to aid recovery of "Methow composite" stock. Some biologists believe the composites are closer to wild fish that are listed as endangered in the upper Columbia basin. Greg Pratschner, who oversees national fish hatchery operations in Winthrop, Leavenworth and Entiat, said Monday, "I said none of these fish would be killed on my watch and I still mean that." The agreement will also involve the release next spring of thousands of hatchery smolts and fingerlings into the Okanogan basin. "One thing we are doing is putting fish where they’ve been gone for a while," Pratschner explained. At the Winthrop hatchery, Pratschner said managers will not know which returning salmon are Methow composite and which are Carson fish until they are spawned at the facility. A 1/32-inch coded wire tag in the snout identifies the composite fish, he said. The difficulty of separating Carson and Methow composite fish precludes planting fish this year in the Okanogan basin, Pratschner said. "In order not to kill them we’re going to take the adults out of Entiat (for the Okanogan basin plant)," he said. The returning fish are from those released from the Winthrop hatchery in 1996. About half of salmon released at the national hatchery were tagged with the snout marker. All fish at the state-run Douglas County Public Utility District hatchery were tagged in 1996, Pratschner said. Pratschner also reported about 1.2 million eggs left over after spawning in Winthrop will be transported to Leavenworth, incubated and hatched for later planting in the White Salmon tributary of the lower Columbia. The new plan will "not immediately" address a plan by National Marine Fisheries Service to begin eliminating genetic mixing of Carson and Methow composite stock, Pratschner acknowledged. NMFS' officials have said they would rather plant Methow composite stock in the Okanogan basin in order to prevent continued mixing with the Carson fish. "They’ve been real adamant about having a visible mark on all fish going up there (in order to) establish origin," Pratschner said. The original NMFS-promoted plan to club the Carson stock fish had aroused protests by tribal interests, irrigators and others. A Yakama Nation fish and wildlife official had protested that relocating Methow composite fish to the Okanogan basin while clubbing Carson stock amounted to a "rob Peter to pay Paul" approach to salmon recovery. Many state and federal biologists say the Methow composite stock, collected from the Twisp, Methow and Chewuch rivers, have genetic characteristics making them close to "wild" fish. Although generally smaller than predominantly hatchery-raised fish, the composites stand a greater chance of surviving predators and parasites and enduring a 500-plus-mile journey from the ocean up the Columbia and through nine dams before taking a turn at Pateros to reach their homeland, some biologists argue. The Carson stock fish have mixed with composites for decades since the Carson federal hatchery was opened on Wind River tributary of the lower Columbia River in the 1970s. Pratschner traced the Winthrop national hatchery’s history of production from 1940, when salmon were trapped at Rock Island Dam. Fish raised in Leavenworth were transferred to the Winthrop and Entiat hatcheries. The hatcheries, "had a terrible time raising those fish" on a diet of horse meat, which he said the salmon would not eat until they were undernourished. The hatchery programs, begun to mitigate construction of Grand Coulee Dam in the 1930s, stopped raising salmon until better diet and nutrition methods came along in the 1970s. Fertilized eggs were taken from salmon captured at Bonneville Dam and then spawned at the Carson hatchery. The eggs were in Winthrop. Pratschner said the original fish "could have been Methow fish" on their way back to the basin. But they were also a mix of many other runs from around the Columbia and Snake river systems. "Now they are everywhere," Pratschner observed, with some Carson origin fish found all over the Northwest, Alaska and as far as the Great Lakes. Pratschner says he appreciates the arguments that Carson and Methow composite fish are genetically too similar. While agreeing that more study is needed, he added that he would have to, "stick with the agency line. They say there are enough wild genes left that they deserve protection." But he said the growing debate over Carson and composite stock points the way to more studies to "refute or confirm" various positions. "I share that frustration," of not having all the answers, he added. Opinion | Sports |
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