NWF.006/Apr.5.96

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Fish News
Reports on Fish Policy Development

[1] NMFS SAYS "HIGHLY LIKELY" NO MORE THAN 51 PERCENT OF SALMON WILL BE BARGED THIS YEAR :: The National Marine Fisheries Service will reduce the numbers of fish barged around Columbia River dams this year. From the 70 percent barged last year, NMFS regional director Will Stelle says the agency will likely barge no more than 51 percent. At a recent Portland meeting of top fish and hydro agency officials as well as tribal leaders, Stelle outlined barging scenarios that are shaped by runoff and spill levels. Idaho had argued that no more than 60 percent should be barged, to comply with what state officials call a spread the risk strategy.

But with early bird forecasts calling for runoff to total 127 million acre-feet, or 120 percent of average, and minimal markets for excess power this spring, the hydro system will likely have to spill significant amounts of water, posing a potential risk to fish. If nitrogen gas reaches lethal levels, Stelle said "We will have to look at how to get fish out of the river." At the same time, Stelle promised barging opponents that, "If we creep up to 60 percent, we will review the issue within the Technical Management Team." The debate came at the first meeting of the newly-formed executive committee, a group created by Stelle as the final decision point for inter-agency disputes over salmon recovery.

The April 1 Portland session also tackled requests from Montana and Idaho to protect major reservoirs in those states. Montana's Hungry Horse and Libby and Idaho's Dworshak reservoirs have been drafted heavily in past years to provide flows for salmon. In a statement to the agency and tribal heads, Montana argued for implementation of integrated rule curves, which it said are needed to protect resident fish. Idaho also issued a plea for Dworshak, offering water from the reservoir until 95 percent of fall chinook have left the Snake River system.

Joyce Cohen, Oregon's representative on the Northwest Power Planning Council, and several tribal leaders protested that the plan could leave late migrating falls without sufficient flows. Tribal leaders also questioned whether salmon flows could be reduced without violating the hydro biological opinion, which the federal government has called the minimum necessary to avoid jeopardy to endangered fish. Stelle responded that the BioOp supports adaptive management and offered to let the new Independent Scientific Advisory Board tackle the group's questions. The executive committee was unable to decide on the Montana and Idaho reservoir requests. The group agreed to resolve the issue at its next meeting on June 12 [Lynn Francisco].

[2] TMT MEETINGS NOW ON LINE :: The Technical Management Team, the group that directs in-season hydro operations, is now meeting on a weekly basis, as the spring salmon migration gets underway. Minutes of the Wednesday afternoon gatherings, where decisions on tough issues such as spill and flow targets are made, can now be found at a Web site managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Minutes of the March 27 session explain the decision-making process and the issues this group will tackle this year. The TMT is taking on a much higher profile, as the region faces a high runoff year along with a poor market for power sales, likely forcing significant spill. Among other tasks, the TMT will be monitoring spill and nitrogen gas levels, in an attempt to operate the hydro system to reduce risks to migrating fish [Lynn Francisco].

[3] EARLY BIRD RUNOFF SET AT 127 MAF, OR 120 PERCENT OF NORMAL :: April's early bird volume runoff forecast is now calling for 127 million acre-feet, or 120 percent of normal, as measured at The Dalles. Higher up on the Columbia, at Grand Coulee, runoff is predicted to hit 119 percent of normal. On the Snake River, the prediction is 123 percent. Rainfall during March dropped from previous months, with the Columbia portion of the basin totaling close to 75 percent of average and the Snake 96 percent. Seasonal (October through the end of March) rainfall for the entire basin remains high, at 129 percent.

Streamflows also remain high, measuring 154 percent of average at The Dalles, 131 percent at Coulee and 172 percent on the Snake. With snowpack set at 107 percent of average basin-wide, the reservoirs are being drafted to protect the system in case of a sudden snowmelt. As of April 5, reservoirs were at 33 percent of full system-wide [Lynn Francisco].

[4] NWPPC @ PENDLETON: CBFWA FUNDING RESTORED AS YAKAMAS PREPARE TO JOIN; CRITFC SEEKS WATERSHED FUNDING :: The NW Power Planning Council, meeting this month at Pendleton to consider a variety of fish issues, restored $170,000 in funding to the Columbia Basin Fish & Wildlife Authority. Appearing with leaders from CBFWA member tribes and federal officials Will Stelle of NMFS and Mike Spear of US Fish & Wildlife was Wendell Hannigan of the Yakamas. Hannigan supported what those who appeared before the council said was a renewed CBFWA, committed to making the association a better forum for co-manager participation in regional fish & wildlife affairs.

CBFWA still lacks an executive director to succeed Jack Donaldson. Hannigan will take a recommendation to join CBFWA to the Yakama tribal council. From April 8 to 12, agency and tribal co-managers will meet to finish work on project prioritization for FY 1997 projects. Representatives of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, led by executive director Ted Strong, and Hannigan for the Yakamas asked the council for about $4.5 million in FY 1996 funding for watershed restoration projects. The council said it would decide on the requests during an April 17 conference call; meeting details are in NWPPC News Release [Cyrus Noë].

[5] MOA ON BONNEVILLE FISH BUDGET STALLED, BUT FISH CAP REMAINS IN PLACE :: Talks on the memorandum of agreement to implement the BPA fish cap have stalled while the agency holds formal consultations with 13 Columbia basin tribes. What started as an effort to iron out narrow accounting procedures has turned into a major process for Bonneville. Federal parties to the agreement -- BPA, the National Marine Fisheries Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation -- wrangled for several months over issues such as how to calculate the cost of hydro operations. Some parties wanted to hold Bonneville to an annual budget that totaled $435 million, but BPA administrator Randy Hardy held fast to his definition of the fish cap: $252 million for capital and program costs, plus the cost of hydro operations. Depending on the water year, Bonneville estimates those hydro costs -- power purchases and lost revenues from water that could have been stored and used for later, more valuable generation -- could range from a low of $92 million to a high of $280 million.

With that dispute settled, Bonneville thought it was close to an agreement. But tribal leaders insisted they had a right to be consulted, and Bonneville acquiesced. The MOA could be delayed several months while technical briefings and formal sessions are scheduled. But the delay does not threaten the fish cap, which was ironed out between Congress and the administration to help solve Bonneville's financial woes. BPA spokeswoman Dulcy Mahar said the agency will continue to operate under the fish cap while it "hammers out the details" of the MOA [Lynn Francisco].

[6] GRANT PUD'S EXPANDED FISH PASSAGE SYSTEM ALMOST READY :: Grant County PUD has nearly completed construction of an expanded prototype fish attraction system at the PUD's Wanapum Dam. The PUD last year tested a new surface collection system on three of the ten intakes for the dam's turbine/generators. But the migrating fish still seemed to choose the spillways or open intakes over the surface collector, so Grant decided to expand the system this year to cover three more intakes and modify it to block off access to the four remaining intakes.

Grant also has modified one of Wanapum's 12 spill gates to skim surface water, where the fish apparently prefer to congregate, to move fish through the spillway. Wanapum's spillway gates are "deep spill" designs that open from the bottom; the modification could move more fish and spill less water. The PUD also has installed a flip lip about halfway down one of the spillways, which should reduce the force of the water hitting the tailrace, reducing nitrogen gas supersaturation in the flows.

Grant will also be using several methods to track the migrating fish. The PUD has already started balloon testing, which PUD spokesman Gary Garnant said is one of the best ways to document the effects of different migration routes--spillway, turbine or surface collector--on the migrating fish. Grant will use hydro-acoustic monitoring to determine fish passage rates under different controlled discharge conditions, primarily at the modified top spill gate. And the PUD will test the effectiveness of the flip lip in reducing undissolved gas levels, but won't conduct that test until after the fish migration season is over [Jude Noland].

[7] JOHN PALENSKY TAKES OVER AS COORDINATOR OF NMFS IMPLEMENTATION TEAM :: John Palensky, fish and wildlife assistant for BPA administrator Randy Hardy will take over as coordinator of the new Implementation Team set up recently by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Palensky will spend three-quarters of his time with NMFS, helping the team coordinate federal, state and tribal salmon recovery measures. The group is described as "the primary point of coordination among the sovereigns" by NMFS regional director Will Stelle. The team, which includes federal, state and tribal fish and hydro officials, will likely be the focal point for a number of tough decisions this spring on how to operate the hydro system to benefit fish. Palensky, who plans to leave Bonneville next December, admitted his new job will be "a lot of hard work," but also called it challenging and fun [Lynn Francisco].

[8] YAKAMAS JOIN SALMON LAWSUIT; OREGON CONSIDERING JOINING :: The Yakama Indian Nation will join the lawsuit challenging the federal government's hydro biological opinion. Attorney Tim Weaver said the tribe will file an amicus brief to join the lawsuit, which was filed last month by a coalition of environmental and fisher groups. The suit charged several federal agencies, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, with failing to implement salmon recovery strategies in the BioOp. Oregon is also considering joining the lawsuit, according to Roy Hemmingway, salmon advisor to Gov. John Kitzhaber. "The state has taken a position in a number of implementation issues that is at variance with NMFS, so some say we should join," he said. Hemmingway explained that Oregon believes the federal government barged too many fish last year. The state would rather see more fish left in the river, he added. Hemmingway wouldn't predict when the state will make its decision. "We're reviewing all our legal options, he said [Lynn Francisco].

[9] NWPPC APPROVES FIFTEEN SUPPLEMENTATION PROJECTS :: The Northwest Power Planning Council has given final approval to 15 supplementation projects in the Columbia Basin. The somewhat controversial salmon production proposal had previously received the blessing of the National Marine Fisheries Service, as well as negotiating teams under US v. Oregon, both of which recommended approval for the projects. The proposal is designed to increase the production of Snake River fall and spring chinook, steelhead, Columbia River fall chinook and coho. If all the projects are fully implemented, the price tag will be $27.7 million over the next six years. Wild fish advocates remain concerned over the impact to wild fish, however, fearing a reduction in genetic diversity [Lynn Francisco].

[10] STUDY SHOWS LARGE NUMBER OF HATCHERY CHINOOK DON'T ARRIVE AT LOWER GRANITE :: Wild Snake River spring and summer chinook, listed as an endangered species, are being replaced by hatchery chinook. But as many as 75 percent of the hatchery fish released upstream do not make it to Lower Granite Dam. By comparison, more than 75 percent of wild chinook survive that journey. Research described in the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife publication News and Views found that hatchery chinook have what is called a bimodal migration. When these fish are released, some outmigrate as smolts while others hold over in the river until spring of the next year.

Consequently, according to the article by Timothy A. Whitesel, only a small portion of hatchery chinook released in spring actually become smolts and migrate downriver to the sea. (The research does not estimate the survival of hatchery chinook that overwinter in the river.) This study is significant because it provides scientific evidence that runs counter to the conventional hatchery operations which see the river only as a conduit to the sea and which view chinook life history as simple rather than complex. This view creates the mistaken belief that wild salmon and rivers can be replaced with technology.

Another study reported in the ODFW publication reveals that wild chinook in Oregon's Catherine Creek have what's called an alternative lifestyle. Adult salmon return to Catherine Creek to spawn in late summer; the juveniles come out of the gravel in the spring and remain in the stream until the following spring when they begin to migrate. But a smolt migration study reported on in News and Views discovered that some of these juvenile chinook take up a radical, alternative lifestyle. Male chinook become what is called precocious, that is, they do not leave the river but stay there to become sexually mature and try to spawn with adult female salmon in the late summer. Precocious males have been found to make up from .03 to 8.3 percent of the juvenile salmon in the streams surveyed from 1992 to 1995.

This alternative lifestyle is important because it allows a salmon population to cope with environmental fluctuation by spreading the risk to reproductive failure. Chinook life history includes adult spawners that are precocious males that never leave the river, with 3, 4, 5, and 6 year old adults all making up the potential breeders from a single brood year. Salmon conservation policy and recovery measures that fail to take into account this life history variation can cause a salmon population to be less resilient and therefore more vulnerable to extinction [Bill Bakke].

Document Annex
Works Cited

DOCUMENTS FROM NW FISHLETTER 006 :: Below are listed available documents referred to in the text of NW Fishletter issue 006.

• Technical Management Team Information Web Site, US Army Corps of Engineers.

• Minutes of the March 27 meeting of the Technical Management Team.

• Timothy A. Whitesel. All Fish in a Raceway May Not Be Created Equal. Fish News & Views. Vol. 2, Issue 1, Winter 1996. Pp. 1-3

• Paul Sankovich and MaryLouise Keefe. Salmon Exhibit Alternative Life Styles. Fish News & Views. Vol. 2, Issue 1, Winter 1996. P. 7

THE ARCHIVE :: Previous NW Fishletter issues and supporting documents.