March 23, 2005
Lake Roosevelt Sturgeon Recovery Project
Statement of Work and Budget FY 2005
BPA Project Number:  1995-027-00
Contract Number:  00005755
Performance/Budget Period:  April 1, 2005 - March 31, 2006
Technical Contact:  Deanne Pavlik
Spokane Tribe of Indians
P.O. Box 480
Wellpinit, WA 99040
(509) 258 - 7020 ext. 24
deannep@spokanetribe.com
Contracting Contact:  Jeanne Flett
Spokane Tribe of Indians Contracting Officer
P.O. Box 100
Wellpinit, WA 99040
(509) 458 - 6560
jeannef@spokanetribe.com
Financial Contact:  Carol Evans
Finance Officer, Spokane Tribal Business Council
P.O. Box 100
Wellpinit, WA  99040
(509) 458 - 6504
carole@spokanetribe.com

Lake Roosevelt Sturgeon Recovery Project
Statement of Work
AGENCIES:  This is a collaborative project among the Spokane Tribe of Indians, Washington Department of fish and Wildlife, Colville Confederated Tribes, and the Upper Columbia River Sturgeon Recovery Team (which includes Canadian and US resource managers).  Field work will be pursued in cooperation with experienced sturgeon sampling personnel in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection.  Technicians will be provided by the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Colville Confederated Tribes.
BACKGROUND
Without effective intervention, the white sturgeon population appears to be headed for extinction in the Columbia River upstream from Grand Coulee Dam.  Data indicates natural recruitment has been very limited and the majority of the population now consists of an aging cohort of adults whose numbers are steadily dwindling.  Upper Columbia River white sturgeon are subject to a recovery plan initiated in Canada and completed with involvement by U.S. parties.  This recovery plan identifies the lack of information on the actual numbers and limiting factors of white sturgeon in the U.S. portion of the Upper Columbia River as a critical uncertainty.
Extensive assessments have been completed in the Canadian portion of the transboundary reach of the Columbia River (R.L. & L 1994), but little sturgeon work has been conducted in U.S. portions of this reach.  In 1998, the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and the Spokane Tribe of Indians sampled an aged white sturgeon population above Grand Coulee Dam, and confirmed that virtually no recruitment has occurred during the past 20-25 years. No young of year sturgeon were collected in 1998 by USGS trawling surveys above Grand Coulee Dam, although these same methods have collected YOY in other reservoirs throughout the lower Columbia and Snake Rivers.  It remains unclear whether sturgeon in Canadian and U.S. waters of the transboundary reach are discrete subgroups and if recovery measures planned in Canada will be affected by and effective in U.S. waters.
As described in Section 10.4A of the 1994 FWP, concern has arisen over the declining status of native sturgeon populations throughout the Columbia River Basin. White sturgeon populations above Grand Coulee Dam were closed to harvest in 1996 due to increasing concerns over the apparent declining status of the population.   Mitigative and/or restorative efforts have become necessary to maintain this particular white sturgeon stock, which possesses genetic traits different from other Columbia River stocks (Setter and Brannon 1992, Brannon et al 1987). Similar genetic differences and recruitment failure for the Kootenai River white sturgeon stock, led to listing as an endangered species in 1994.
Sturgeon populations are declining, in part, due to dam construction and hydropower operations, which result in habitat fragmentation and hydrograph reversal (Apperson and Anders 1991; Partridge 1983).  Dams block access between dispersed spawning and feeding areas.  Numerous authors have noted the importance of high spring flows in sturgeon spawning and recruitment (Nilo et al. 1997; Auer 1996; Parsley 1991), and hydro-operations may be, in part, related to the lack of recruitment noted in the upper Columbia River. Other factors may also play an important role in limiting recruitment of white sturgeon above Grand Coulee Dam, including food availability, predation of juveniles by walleye and other piscivores, and water/sediment quality issues related to zinc smelting operations in Canada and mining operations in the U.S.
During 2001-2002, this project assisted in the development of an Upper Columbia River White Sturgeon Recovery Plan (UCWSRP) that reviewed available information on sturgeon status and biology, identified objectives, strategies, and measures for sturgeon recovery, and outlined a coordinated effort on both sides of the border.  The UCWSRP identifies critical uncertainties for sturgeon in the reach from Lake Roosevelt to Canada related population status, habitat suitability, limiting factors, and effective management actions.  This scope of work details a research and evaluation program for addressing some of these critical uncertainties.  
Adult Assessment:  One of the critical uncertainties identified in the UCWSRP is the status of adult sturgeon population in the U.S. portion of the upper Columbia River.  In accordance with the UCWSRP (Measures 8.1 and 8.2), we will conduct an adult stock assessment to determine the status of the adult white sturgeon population in the U.S. portion of the upper Columbia River.  
It is also unclear whether surgeon mix freely between upper and lower portions of the transboundary reach or if Canadian and U.S. portions of the river contain separate, relatively sedentary groups of fish.  This question has big implications for the expected interval until the population becomes extinct or too small for effective intervention by restoring natural recruitment or hatchery supplementation.  This question will also determine whether hatchery and natural recruitment measures being implemented in Canada can be expected to restore white sturgeon population in the U.S. or if separate suites of measures are appropriate to address both areas.  Limited historic sampling has identified relatively large concentrations of sturgeon in U.S. portions of this reach but numbers and distribution of white sturgeon are unclear.  Numbers and distribution of the sturgeon in the U.S. portion of the reach provides an indication of recovery prospects and habitat capacity in the U.S. waters.
Broodstock Collection:  In response to increasing concerns over the threat of extinction of Upper Columbia River white sturgeon, the UCWSRP identified that immediate implementation of a conservation aquaculture program was required to preserve the remaining demographic and genetic diversity of the transboundary reach population and rebuild the natural age-class structure lost during the persistent recruitment failures of the last 25-30 years (Measure 3.1).
An aquaculture program was established in Canada in 2001, with the first juveniles released in the Canadian transboundary reach in 2002.  Subsequent releases occurred in 2003 and 2004.  However, the UCWSRP suggested that existing hatchery facilities in Canada may be too small to fully address sturgeon recovery throughout the transboundary reach since Canadian release numbers are small and downstream dispersal into U.S. waters may be limited.  The UCWSRP asserts that the development of a U.S. hatchery program may be required to supplement Canadian efforts if production increases are warranted.  In addition to increased production, the UCWSRP identified that a U.S. sturgeon aquaculture facility would also provide a population failsafe.
An interim U.S. white sturgeon culture program was established in 2003-2004.  In February, 2004 we received 2,000 juvenile white sturgeon from one family group (broodyear 2003) from the Canadian facility They were reared and marked at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's (WDFW) Columbia Basin Hatchery, and subsequently released in the U.S. portion of the transboundary reach in May 2004.  In June 2004, we received larvae and eggs from the Canadian hatchery for incubation and rearing at Columbia Basin Hatchery.  The fish will be marked and released into the transboundary reach in Canada and the U.S.
In 2005, we plan to expand the U.S. aquaculture program to include broodstock collection and spawning of two families.  The reasons for expanding the aquaculture program are to ensure that the genetics diversity is being maximized in the aquaculture program.  The Canadian facility only has the capacity to rear six families, and the UCWSRP Breeding Plan indicates that there should be 12 families in planted in the transboundary reach and Lake Roosevelt.  Also, it is still unclear as to the amount of inter-breeding between the hypothesized sub-populations in the Canadian transboundary reach and Lake Roosevelt.  In order to insure that the genetic character of the fish in Lake Roosevelt is represented, they must be included as broodstock.  There are also questions related to the stress related impacts to transporting broodstock long distances from the Columbia River to the Canadian facility.  It has been hypothesized that fish transported short distances to local holding sites with river water as the water supply, will have higher rates for successfully spawning fish.
We will collect broodstock in the U.S. between Gifford and the international border to be held at Sherman Creek Hatchery, using river water.  
Egg Sampling:  The upper Columbia River sturgeon population is currently threatened by a failure of natural recruitment.  It is unclear if recruitment has failed as a result of poor spawning conditions, poor rearing conditions, spawning stock limitation, or some combination of these factors.  Consistent spawning has been observed just north of the Canadian border at the mouth of the Pend Oreille River near Waneta but this spawning site does not appear to be contributing significant numbers of juveniles to the population.  Of six adult female sturgeon that were in late stages of maturity tagged in the U.S. in 2004, none moved to the spawning site in Canada.  Based on the movements of these fish, the collection of larvae and an egg near Northport, and observed adult activity near Northport during the spawning period, it is possible that another spawning site exists in the U.S. near Northport.  Prospects for sturgeon recovery through natural recruitment depend in part on the availability of suitable spawning habitat.  Identifying spawning areas also allows us to focus our efforts to study factors related to the recruitment failure, such as egg and larval predation, larval dispersal, larval habitat availability, and food availability for larvae.
Larval Sampling:  In 2004 we conducted a pilot project to collect white sturgeon larvae in the U.S. portion of the transboundary reach.  Using very limited effort, we successfully captured 26 larvae with D-ring nets.  This was an important finding, because it is the first documented capture of sturgeon larvae in the Upper Columbia River.  The apparent high survival of hatchery fish planted as yearlings and the known production of larvae indicates that the recruitment failure is occurring between these ages.  Possible causes of larval mortality include lack of suitable habitat, predation, and food limitation.  In order to assess these potential limiting factors, we need to develop an understanding of larval behavior.  By sampling larvae with D-ring nets we can determine dispersal times, rates, and distances, potential post-dispersal rearing areas, and overlap with potential predators.
Predator Sampling:  One of the proposed hypotheses for the apparent recruitment failure is predation of eggs, larvae, and juveniles.  In order to quantify the consumptive impact of predators, we will collect and analyze stomach contents of potential predatory fish species in the U.S. transboundary reach, including walleye, rainbow trout, suckers, sculpins, burbot, and smallmouth bass.  Stomach samples will be preserved for laboratory analysis.
Our ability to determine consumption rates of predators will depend on our ability to identify larvae in the stomachs of predators.  It is unknown how long after ingestion that larvae are still identifiable in the stomachs of various predators.  If digestion rates are rapid, then the lack of identifiable larvae in predator stomach samples may not be due to a lack of predation, but our inability to identify them.  The rates of digestion will influence the sampling strategies used to collect predators for stomach content analysis.  If digestion rates are slow we will have to set less nets and traps for short periods of time; however, if digestion rates are slow we will be able to use more nets and traps with longer sets.
Juvenile Sampling:  Juvenile sampling is necessary to confirm the apparent limited recruitment in the upper Columbia River white sturgeon population, to identify recruitment years and year class sizes if they occur, and to monitor the dispersal, distribution, relative abundance, survival, and growth of hatchery juveniles released in Canada and the U.S.  
Telemetry Monitoring:  Since April 2003, Canadian and U.S. researchers have implanted sonic tags in approximately 60 sub-adult and adult and 50 hatchery juvenile white sturgeon in Lake Roosevelt and the upper Columbia River in Canada for monitoring of movements.  The fish were tagged during setline sampling for other purposes.  Movements are being monitored using strategically placed fixed station receivers between Gifford and Hugh Keenleyside Dam in British Columbia.  The sonic telemetry data should indicate the movement and mixing patterns of sturgeon between Lake Roosevelt and the Canadian reach.  Telemetry information is also providing information about potential spawning locations, seasonal movements, habitat use, and distribution.  
LITERATURE CITED:
Apperson, K. and P.J. Anders. 1991. Kootenai River white sturgeon investigations. Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Prepared for Bonneville Power Administration. Annual Progress Report, Project 88-65, Portland.
Auer, N.A. 1996. Response of spawning lake sturgeon to changes in hydroelectric facility operation. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 125:66-67.
Brannon, E., and seven others. 1987. Columbia River white sturgeon (Acipenser transmoutanus) population genetics and early life history study. Final Report. Project 83-316. Bonneville Power Administration, Portland.
Nilo, P., Durmont, P., and Furtin, R. 1997. Climatic and hydrological determinants of year-class strength of St. Lawerence River lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens). Canadian Journal of Aquatic Science 54:774-780.
Paragamian V., G. Kruse, and V.D. Wakkinen. 1997. Kootenai River white sturgeon investigations. Annual Progress Report. Project 88-65. Bonneville Power Administration, Portland.
Parsley, M. 1991. How water velocities may limit white sturgeon spawning. Research Information Bulletin, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 91-86.
Partidge, R. 1983. Kootenai River fisheries investigations. Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Job Completion Report, Project F-73-R-5, Boise.
R.L. & L. Environmental Services Ltd. 1994. Status of white sturgeon in the Columbia River, B.C. Final Report prepared for B.C. Hydro, Environmental Affairs, Vancouver, B.C. Report 377F.
Setter, A. And E. Brannon. 1992. A summary of stock identification research on white sturgeon of the Columbia River. Bonneville Power Administration, Project 89-44, Portland.