Freshwater Fisheries Society of British Columbia

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The conservation aquaculture program, as delivered under the Columbia River water use plan, is divided between two areas of the Columbia River, the lower Columbia River and the Mid-Columbia River. The program goals differ between the two areas. Under operational parameters of the Columbia River Treaty, adequate flows treatments before and during spawning, incubation and drift phases of the life cycle were not seen as feasible in the lower Columbia River downstream of HLK. The CC therefore agreed to a plan which included monitoring to assess trends in population dynamics, research into juvenile habitat use and survival, and an assessment of the feasibility of different management responses. In the Mid-Columbia River there were more uncertainties (e.g. biological, operational etc.) during the development of the water use plan and the CC report (BC Hydro 2005) recognized several possible long term directions for the Mid-Columbia program including: - Initiate a conservation aquaculture program for development of an Arrow Lakes Reservoir fail safe population. - Develop a self-sustaining (in the long term) population in a Kinbasket Reservoir/upper Columbia River recovery area. - Initiate a conservation aquaculture program for development of a Kinbasket Reservoir failsafe (non-reproducing) population. The CC recommended that the conservation aquaculture strategy for this program be robust enough to allow for the determination of whether or not wild production is possible and where recovery efforts would be best directed in either the Mid-Columbia or Kinbasket. The White Sturgeon management plan for the Mid-Columbia divided the operational delivery of aquaculture into two projects. CLBWORKS#24, Mid-Columbia White Sturgeon Experimental Aquaculture, provides for delivery during the first four years of the program (2008-2011). During this time, the focus will be on providing for larval and sub-yearling juvenile releases designed to assist with monitoring habitat selection and use, and early survival. The second phase of the work under project CLBWORKS#25, Mid-Columbia White Sturgeon Conservation Aquaculture, was to be directed following a technical review of the entire Mid-Columbia White Sturgeon management plan. The results of a review in 2012 were to continue with conservation aquaculture program (2012- 2018) in the Mid-Columbia and assess optimal size at release (survival / temperature / growth relationships) by releasing larger sized juveniles compared to those released from 2008-2012. The overall objectives of the Columbia River White Sturgeon conservation aquaculture program include: -The capture, transportation between the Columbia River and KTH, care and breeding of mature adult sturgeon at targeted numbers of 10 females and 10 males to provide for an annual objective of eight genetically distinct families or secondarily subfamilies. Adults are to be returned to the Columbia River upon completion of spawning. -The successful incubation and rearing of approximately equal numbers of healthy juveniles from each family or subfamily bred in a given year targeting an annual release in the fall of the brood year or subsequent spring of a total of up to 12,000 sub-yearling sturgeon to facilitate stock rebuilding and research needs. Stocking targets are established through the TWG. -The annual marking and tagging of all fish according to protocols, including scute removal, Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagging, sonic tagging and other tagging as may be required of both broodstock adult and juvenile sturgeon. -Annual participation in public awareness and educational activities including but not necessarily limited to release events, school events, public events, open houses workshops etc. The specifics of this new alternative for the conservation aquaculture program were (2015): -Wild progeny (embryos and larvae) to be imprinted to the Columbia River within streamside rearing containers and the surviving progeny transferred to and reared at KTH until a minimum of 200 grams before release. -Size at release for all sturgeon destined for the mid-Columbia River would be >300 grams. -Suspend all hatchery broodstock programs.

Juvenile releases took place in the spring of 2018 over a period of three days, May 8th, 10th, and 12th. On May 8th 2018, 551 juveniles from the 2014 year class wild progeny fish were released into the Mid-Columbia at Shelter Bay, ~55 km downstream from Revelstoke BC. These individuals were greater than 400 grams in weight at the time of release (Table 3). An additional 426 wild-origin fish collected in Canada were also released into the Mid-Columbia, also averaging >400 grams in weight at the time of release.

Juvenile releases took place in the spring of 2018 over a period of three days, May 8th, 10th, and 12th. On May 8th 2018, 551 juveniles from the 2014 year class wild progeny fish were released into the Mid-Columbia at Shelter Bay, ~55 km downstream from Revelstoke BC. These individuals were greater than 400 grams in weight at the time of release (Table 3). An additional 426 wild-origin fish collected in Canada were also released into the Mid-Columbia, also averaging >400 grams in weight at the time of release.