Upcoming changes to annual Hanford Reach broodstock collection
This year marks a change to the annual “King of the Reach” (KOR) fishing activities on the Hanford Reach portion of the Columbia River. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has partnered with the Grant County Public Utility District (GCPUD) and the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) Tri-Cities Chapter to put on this event every October since 2012.
While this year’s angler broodstock collection will not be run as a competitive derby event, most other aspects will remain the same. Participating anglers are required to be registered as part of the Tri-Cities Chapter’s CCA angler broodstock collection effort. Each boat must also possess a WDFW special permit that allows for fishing in a closed reach of the Columbia River for broodstock collection.
In previous years, participants were enrolled as WDFW volunteers in the KOR derby. This year
CCA Tri-Cities is taking on the primary coordination including volunteer registration and logistics. WDFW and GCPUD will still receive fish at the Priest Rapids Hatchery (PRH).
“This collaboration with the Tri-Cities CCA chapter is essential to support collection of natural origin Chinook for incorporation into our hatchery broodstock,” said Trevor Hutton, WDFW Region 3 Fish Program Manager.
In 2022, WDFW recognized CCA Tri-Cities as the Region 3 Organization of the Year for its work on past angler broodstock collection and other contributions to the area’s fisheries.
This year’s angler participation helps ensure the future of the Hanford Reach salmon population. The goal of this effort is to collect natural origin Upriver Bright (URB) fall Chinook salmon to incorporate into the broodstock (mature fish used for breeding future generations of fish) of the Priest Rapids Hatchery (PRH). These natural origin broodstock are an important part of the PRH program by providing a pathway to sustain local adaptations and better integrate the natural and hatchery populations occupying the Hanford Reach.
Upriver Bright fall Chinook salmon are highly prized by many who fish for them. They are named for the bright sheen that they maintain as they work their way upriver. In contrast, lower river fall Chinook change to duller spawning colors much more quickly. These large salmon come into the Columbia River from the ocean between late July and early October. They are genetically programmed to travel hundreds of miles to their spawning grounds.
WDFW started broodstock collection efforts effort to ensure URBs will be around in the future. They were originally implemented as a three-year pilot project but have been so successful that this process happens annually to help PRH reach its goal of sustaining the abundance of URBs available for harvest. Several hundred fish are collected along a thirty-mile stretch of river in the Hanford Reach area over three days.
The following are some questions we are often asked about broodstock collection:
Q: What happens to fish caught in this effort? In most salmon derbies, anglers get to keep what they catch.
A: Anglers give WDFW the fish they catch to be used as broodstock at the PRH to create more fish. Anglers do not retain any fish for personal consumption.
PRH produces and releases 7.3 million juvenile fall Chinook salmon into the Columbia River each June on the Hanford Reach. They are not sent to other areas of the Columbia or state for release. These fish contribute significantly to a variety of fisheries from the oceans of Alaska to the Tri-cities.
Q: Are all the offspring from these natural origin fish benefitting the Hanford Reach?
A: Yes! All the fish produced using these natural origin broodstock are reared and released into the Columbia River from PRH. When they return from their time in the ocean, most will return to the Hanford Reach and make their way back to the hatchery while a small proportion may spawn in the Reach.
Q: Why is it important to catch fish from the Hanford Reach and use them for reproduction? Why can’t fish from anywhere be used? And. why do they need to be native, not hatchery-origin, fish?
A: Offspring of natural-origin (wild) fish are more genetically adapted to survive in their natural environment. Ideally, 30% of hatchery broodstock should come from natural origin fall Chinook, and preferably from URB from the Hanford Reach, to keep native genetics in the gene pool.
The PRH has a fish trap that spawning fish enter. Less than 10% of the fall Chinook that end up in the trap are natural origin, and many are from other parts of the Columbia River, making additional efforts to secure natural origin fish a necessity.
Q: Does this process replace natural populations with hatchery fish? Will natural origin fish eventually be wiped out by this operation?
A: Over the 10 years of the program (numbers are broken out by year below), less than 1% (0.6%) of the Hanford Reach natural origin fall Chinook population has been collected for this effort. In comparison, an average of 12% of the natural origin fall Chinook are harvested each year by sport anglers on the Hanford Reach. The relatively small number collected during this broodstock collection period makes a large impact in the genetic makeup of the fish released from the PRH.
The American Fisheries Society recently published a peer reviewed manuscript on this topic.
Having a genetically robust hatchery program with fish that mirror the wild is critical, so if hatchery fish spawn in the wild they will not have a significant effect on the wild population.
Q: Why do people join this effort if they can’t keep these large fish?
A: While it is always fun to fish for big fish, many people support this work and recognize the conservation contribution of this program. There are many anglers that volunteer to work the derby for the same reason. In the first 10 years, 1,841 volunteers assisted with the project collecting 6,780 adult fall Chinook.
Q: What is the mortality rate of Chinook during this activity?
A: Each year, only a handful of fish die in the time between being caught and loaded into the hatchery truck.
If you are interested in broodstock collection on the Hanford Reach this year, you can visit www.ccawashington.org/kingofthereach.
