Cle Elum Hatchery Staff

Evaluation of yearly and geographic variation in early male maturation in hatchery and wild spring Chinook salmon from

the Yakima River, Washington.

Don Larsen, Brian Beckman, Paul Parkins - NOAA Fisheries

Deb Harstad, Kathy Cooper, Dina Spangenberg - University of Washington

Dave Fast, Charles Strom, Mark Johnston, - Yakama Nation Fisheries

Cle Elum Hatchery Staff

USFWS Pathology Lab, Olympia, WA.- Ray Brunson, Joy Evered, Sonia Mumford, Chris Paterson-

WDFW-Todd Pearsons (now with Grant PUD) and staff, Steve Schroder, Craig Busack

Yakama Nation Fisheries-Bill Bosch

Oncorh Consulting-Curt Knudsen

Instats Consulting-Doug Neeley

Bonneville Power Administration, NOAA Biop Funding

Acknowledgments

SmoltingSmolting

Sub-adultsSub-adults1+ yr1+ yrSpringSpring

OceanOcean

Spring Chinook SalmonSpring Chinook SalmonSpawning - FallSpawning - Fall FryFry

Age-4 Age-4

Age-5Age-5Ocean

to r

iver

in s

pri

ng

Ocean

to r

iver

in s

pri

ng

Age-3 MAge-3 M

JackJack

ParrParr

Age-1 “Precocious parr”Age-1 “Precocious parr”

Age-2 “Minijacks”Age-2 “Minijacks”

Variation in Age of Male Maturity

Factors Affecting Age of Maturation

Mature male salmon

Genetics Environment

• temperature• food availability• food quality

Growth &

Body energy stores

The Hatchery environment can significantly influence age of maturation

We’ve been monitoring the physiology of Cle Elum Hatchery Spring Chinook since implementation in

1997

BYBY Release #Release # % of males% of males # Minijacks# Minijacks

On average 50% of male Cle Elum hatchery On average 50% of male Cle Elum hatchery spring Chinook precociously matured at age-2spring Chinook precociously matured at age-2

19971997 386,048 386,048 44% 44% 84,93184,931

19981998 589,683 589,683 72% 72% 211,107211,107

19991999 758,789 758,789 50% 50% 189,697189,697

20002000 834,285 834,285 37% 37% 153,508153,508

20012001 370,236 370,236 52%52% 95,520 95,520

Avg. 50%Avg. 50%

Larsen, D.A., Beckman, B.R., Cooper, K.A., Barrett, D., Johnston, M., Swanson, P., and Dickhoff, W.W. (2004). Assessment of high rates of precocious male maturation in a spring Chinook salmon supplementation hatchery program. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 133, 98-120.

Consequences of high levels of precocious maturation

Ecological impactsEcological impacts Genetic impactsGenetic impacts

Increased strayingIncreased straying

Skewed gender ratioSkewed gender ratio

Alters accuracy of SARAlters accuracy of SAR

Loss of adult productionLoss of adult production

How do we assess precocious male maturation?

Plasma 11-Plasma 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT)ketotestosterone (11-KT)

Major androgen in teleost fishMajor androgen in teleost fish Instrumental in the regulation of spermatogenesisInstrumental in the regulation of spermatogenesis

OO

OOOHOH

Every March the Cle Elum Chinook are screened for pathology just prior to volitional

release48%48%52%52%

Threshold Threshold (0.8 ng/ml)(0.8 ng/ml)

N = 541N = 541

0055

10101515

202025253030

35354040

45455050

Cou

nt

Cou

nt

-1.75-1.75 -1.25-1.25 -.75-.75 -.25-.25 .25.25 .75.75 1.251.25 1.751.75

LogLog1010 11-KT (ng/ml) 11-KT (ng/ml)

Immature Maturing

Plasmacollection

Life-history monitoring protocol

Every March, just prior to release, we sample 60 fish per raceway

Measure length, weight, condition factor, gender

Measure 11-KT in plasma of all males to determine maturity status

Previous Yakima Science and Management Conferences

Annual Report

…….This year

Big Picture summarizing 6 years of data

Weig

ht

(g)

Low

High

Month

F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J

2004 2005

0

10

20

Pond4/14/05

A Production Scale Growth Modulation Experiment (BY 2002-2004)

Alteredration

Sameration

Minijack rates have been variable

Pre-release gender ratios are near 50:50

Release size has varied modestly

Minijack are the biggest fish

Yakima hatcherySpring Chinook

Minijack rates correlate significantly with release size (March)

N=300-600 fish/pt.

2 cm

6 f

old

What happens to the minijacks after release?

“The migrating minijack”

The Yakima River Basin

Columbia River

Chandler

John Day Dam

Prosser (Chandler smolt by-pass) collections

Throughout the spring we collect approximately 300-600 wild (Yak.+Natches) and Cle Elum hatchery migrants

Measure length, weight, condition factor, gender, maturation status (males)

There are more migrating minijacks in the hatchery population and rates are

variable

Gender ratios favor females among both wild and large

hatchery fish

SmoltingSmolting

Sub-adultsSub-adults1+ yr1+ yrSpringSpring

OceanOcean

Spring Chinook SalmonSpring Chinook SalmonSpawning - FallSpawning - Fall FryFry

Age-4 Age-4

Age-5Age-5Ocean

to r

iver

in s

pri

ng

Ocean

to r

iver

in s

pri

ng

Age-3 MAge-3 M

JackJack

ParrParr

Age-1 “Precocious parr”Age-1 “Precocious parr”

Age-2 “Minijacks”Age-2 “Minijacks”

Migrating minijack rate correlates with length but not weight

Condition factor is higher in migrating wild than hatchery fish

The proportion of minijacks at release is strongly correlated with

the proportion of migrating minijacks

Conclusions

• Minijack rates at release and Prosser vary annually and are highly correlated

• Rates are strongly correlated with size at release

• Rates are 10-20 fold lower in Wild fish• Female biased gender ratios are

found in both wild and hatchery fish

Hi/Lo Treatments, BY02-04

0

50

100

150

200

250

Age-3 Age-4 Age-5 Combined

PIT Detections at Bonn.

High

Low

All Years Combined

Bosch 2008