The answers to the ISRP questions were adequate. Completing the feasibility investigations with the field trials in Iskuulpa Creek is justified to bring the effort to a reasonable conclusion and to serve as the basis for any future management application. When this project began, otolith chemical marking was an alternative to genetically based parentage assignment. The genetic methods have since proven successful, and employing chemical marking alternative may or may not be cost effective.

A response is requested on the following issues: 1. Describe in more detail the laboratory methods of strontium analysis and of parentage analysis that will be used. In the presentation Q&A the project leader said the Strontium analyses would be carried out at an OSU laboratory by project staff. The laboratory should be identified, and if OSU staff is to assist in the analyses and quality control they should be identified. The protocols for analysis should be identified. The project staff’s qualifications to perform the analysis should be given in the response. 2. The Parentage Analysis methods should be indicated. These analyses apparently will be done under contract by a genetics lab. The laboratory should be identified and some evidence of its qualifications should be given in the response. The protocols for the genetic analysis should be identified and some indication of the feasibility should be given. 3. What is the likely cost of strontium mark and recovery? What is the likely accuracy of detection of the strontium mark? The presentation provided some information not given in the proposal; it should be given in the response. How do these costs compare to those of genetic parentage analysis? What is known about the accuracy of genetic parentage analysis? How would the results of this research be applied to estimation of “Relative Reproductive Success” (of HOR and NOR steelhead) as used in the AHA model? 4. Extending the feasibility investigation from the laboratory to field is reasonable if adequate samples can be collected. Please indicate in the response how many adult steelhead can reliably be expected to be injected with strontium chloride at the project weir? Can tissues be collected from all adult steelhead? 5. The proposal suggests that 15 offspring otoliths/parent will be required. Will such large samples be required at the new dose rate of 20,000 and will such large samples be feasible given egg-to-fry survival rates in Iskuulpa Creek? The purpose of the project is to investigate feasibility of strontium markers to assess relative reproductive success (RRS) in summer-run steelhead of the Umatilla (Iskuulpa Creek). The need for measurement of RRS was identified by ISRP in previous reviews as necessary for evaluation of supplementation. Demonstration of a technique in the laboratory has formed part of an MSc thesis of one of the project staff and is in review for peer-reviewed publication (TAFS). A comparison of accuracy and cost with another candidate technique, genetic parentage analysis, is part of the proposed project. Gravid steelhead are to be injected with strontium intraperitoneally, and elevated strontium is to be detected in natural origin offspring from Iskuulpa Creek in otolith primordia. This proposal is to extend the feasibility investigation to a natural stream. Female hatchery steelhead will be injected with strontium chloride, and natural female steelhead will be sham injected. Otoliths from a sample of natural-origin progeny in the natural stream will be evaluated for strontium and assigned to either a hatchery or natural-origin female parent. The assignments will be cross-validated with genetic progeny assignments. The rationale for this project is a need for a more effective and efficient technique than genetic parentage analysis. The presentation was helpful. It clarified that the field dose would be 20,000 ppm rather than 5,000 ppm, a change resulting from analysis of lab experiments at OSU. There is a complete census possible at Iskuulpa Creek at the weir. Other researchers pursuing similar research (Washington Department of Fisheries and Wildlife) have found it necessary to get permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to administer strontium to fish that are potentially harvested and eaten. While it’s not the ISRP purpose to review project permits, we recommend that the project leader communicate with them. The ISRP understands that Steve Schroder (WDFW) had an INAD for injecting gravid females with strontium. The CTUIR should be in touch with him. The INAD may still be in force and maybe CTUIR could readily get listed on it. Word is that USFWS may take on custody of the INAD. Having FDA permission might blunt any criticism about strontium as an artificial taggant. The ISRP has questions on the project’s ability to collect sufficient numbers of marked offspring. The proposal suggests that 15 otoliths/parent will required. Will such large samples be required at the new dose rate of 20,000 ppm and will such large samples be feasible given egg-to-fry survival rates in Iskuulpa Creek? As conceived now, the method applies to a single generation, but if the method could be extended to measure RRS in subsequent generations it would have more power.

This is an innovative project with potential applicability and benefit to other projects and situations requiring estimation of reproductive success. Assessment of relative reproductive success and supplementation is a key issue in fish culture in the basin. Objectives are clear and tied in with a real world problem. Methods appear sound. The project is a few years old and has progressed from small scale lab testing to verify the utility and transmission of the elemental tag to a proposed field test. This phase of the project is the logical next step.