IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON
ALSEA VALLEY ALLIANCE and MARK SEHL
v.
WILLIAM M. DALEY, Secretary of United States Department of Commerce; NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE; PENELOPE DALTON, NMFS Director; and WILLIAM STEELE, NMFS Regional Director for the Northwest Region; JAMES W. GREER, Director of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, all in their official capacity,
CaseNumber 99-6265-HO
AFFIDAVIT OF DOUGLAS A. DEHART
STATE OF OREGON ) County of Marion )
I, Douglas A. DeHart, being first duly sworn on oath, depose and say:
I am Fish Division Director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). I received a Bachelorās Degree in biology from Harvard University in 1968, a Masters in Fisheries from Oregon State University in 1974 and a Ph.D. in Fisheries from the University of Washington in 1987. My professional career has included seven years with the Corps of Engineers directing fishery research programs; nine years with the National Marine Fishery Service planning and evaluating fish facilities, including hatcheries and fish screens; and eleven years with ODFW involved with supervision of fish production and management programs.
The purpose of my affidavit is: (a) to clarify the reason why coho salmon have been produced for the last 46 years at Fall Creek Hatchery, and (b) to describe the rationale for phasing out the production of the current Fall Creek stock of hatchery coho salmon.
The reason for production of the Fall Creek stock of coho at Fall Creek Hatchery since the early 1950ās was to provide additional coho salmon for ocean fisheries along the Oregon Coast. A secondary purpose was to provide additional fish for sport fisheries conducted in Alsea Bay and the Alsea River basin. This stock of fish was not produced to assist in the conservation or restoration of naturally reproducing coho salmon. This management intent is clearly stated on page 62 of the Alsea River Basin Fish Management Plan jointly developed by ODFW staff and a local public steering committee in 1997.
As described in the Alsea Basin Fish Management Plan, prior to the early 1990ās, the Fall Creek hatchery coho program met its intended fishery management objectives. For example, from 1984 to 1993 this stock of fish contributed an average of approximately 6,000 fish to the annual catch of coho off the Oregon coast. During this same period the annual catch of fish within the Alsea River Basin has averaged 2,000. Since the return of coho to the Alsea basin has been approximately 75% hatchery fish in recent years, the Fall Creek hatchery stock has contributed approximately 1,500 fish annually to the river and bay fishery.
Coastal stocks of both hatchery and wild coho declined significantly in the early 1990ās. In hopes of reversing these downward trends, both ocean and river coho fisheries were severely restricted beginning in 1993 to protect wild fish. These restrictions have continued through 1999. In spite of these restrictions the downward trend for the Alsea wild coho population has not been reversed. A record low spawner escapement of only 213 fish was estimated for the most recent yearās return (1998).
As a result of substantial constraints on coho fisheries in recent years, the opportunity to fish for Fall Creek Hatchery coho has been nearly eliminated. Sport fishing for these hatchery fish in Fall Creek is still allowed, however.
Survival of Fall Creek Hatchery coho smolts has also declined from averages of about 5 percent through the mid 1970s, to about 0.5 percent in recent years. This results in fewer fish available during the limited fishing opportunities. As a result, this program has not met its fishery enhancement purpose in recent years.
Large numbers of hatchery coho smolts released into the Alsea Basin appear to adversely affect survival of wild coho. Increased levels of predator feeding activity have been documented in Alsea Bay at times when high densities of hatchery coho smolts were present. Wild coho smolts were also present at those times and were subject to unnaturally high levels the predation induced by the presence of the hatchery fish. This phenomenon may have been particularly significant during the recent years of low ocean productivity because predators are readily drawn to a rich hatchery-produced food source when other food sources diminish.
The Plaintiffs in this case appear to argue that an alternate use for Fall Creek hatchery coho would be as natural spawners to help rebuild the wild population. They claim this is a strong reason why the production of this hatchery stock should not be discontinued. While ODFW recognizes that hatcheries can play an important role in the restoration of wild populations, the overwhelming scientific evidence demonstrates that using a biologically inappropriate hatchery stock for such purposes is unadvisable and will cause substantially more harm than good. ODFW has concluded from both general and specific studies that Fall Creek hatchery stock is inappropriate for rebuilding the naturally reproducing coho population in the Alsea Basin.
The coho broodstock that has been used for the Fall Creek hatchery program, and that produced the adults now returning to the hatchery is an amalgamation of stocks from many sources and locations, including many coastal rivers from the Coos to the Trask. Broodstock were also imported from populations in the lower Columbia River. To survive a full life cycle under natural conditions a fish must be adapted to the river basin in which it lives. Creating a hatchery broodstock from a mixture of different populations is an unlikely way to achieve this local adaptation. The preferred approach, when natural production is an objective, is to use only wild fish from the specific river basin where the hatchery stock is to be used. This was not the approach used to develop the Fall Creek stock of hatchery coho.
Even a locally derived hatchery stock can be domesticated, defeating its usefulness for rebuilding wild populations. A growing body of scientific evidence demonstrates that the process of adaptation to the hatchery environment (domestication) occurs when multiple generations of salmonids are cultured in the hatchery environment (Reisenbichler and Rubin, 1999), especially in stocks that have not had continual infusions of genetic material from wild populations. These studies illustrate that such hatchery fish used in an effort to boost production of wild fish, can have the opposite effect and actually impair the restoration of naturally reproducing fish populations. Domesticated hatchery stocks are not in themselves bad. They can be an important feature contributing to the success of an efficient hatchery program designed to produce harvest by anglers. However, they are poorly adapted to complete their entire life cycle under natural conditions.
The Fall Creek hatchery stock has this type of history, and is now domesticated. Therefore, these hatchery fish are inappropriate for rebuilding wild populations, and their use for this purpose would likely fail.
Specific to the Alsea basin, a study conducted by Nickelson et al. (1986) demonstrated that juvenile hatchery coho from the Fall Creek hatchery stock, when introduced into wild coho production areas, did not increase the number of returning adults. In addition, the number of naturally produced offspring resulting from the spawning of these adults was lower in locations that had been supplemented with hatchery fish. Adding fish from the Fall Creek stock of hatchery coho to natural production areas resulted in no more adults in the first generation, and in the second generation, actually reduced the number of juvenile coho produced. Therefore, the natural spawning of the now returning Fall Creek hatchery stock of coho likely poses a serious risk to the wild population, not a benefit.
The discontinuation of the existing Fall Creek hatchery coho program was described to the 1999 legislature, which then only authorized continuation of a modest steelhead hatchery program at the site. It neither authorized the expenditure, nor made an appropriation of money to operate a coho hatchery program on Fall Creek. The department has no authority to alter this legislative policy choice.
The states Wild Fish Management Policy (WFMP) applies to most freshwater species in Oregon, including coho salmon. It also applies to state sensitive species, a designation that been made for all coastal populations of coho salmon. The WFMP includes guidance to the department on how hatcheries should be managed to conserve the genetic resources of wild fish (including coho salmon).
Although this guidance provides a way to reduce the risk of hatchery programs to wild populations, the department also recognizes that hatchery fish may have a role in restoring and rehabilitation wild populations. Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) 635-07-0527(3). When hatchery fish are used for such purposes, certain restrictions, in terms of stock origin, level of stock domestication, size of hatchery program, and program duration, apply. OAR 635-07-527(3) and (2).
Exceptions to these restrictions are possible, but only if strict adherence to the policy will likely result in the extinction of the population. Based on the biological information we have for the Alsea basin, strict adherence to the WFMP is most likely to restore wild coho.
Resource managers must focus on adaptive differences in fish populations to successfully restore wild salmonid runs. These adaptive differences can be measured by differences in long-term reproductive success. Whether two populations have the same taxonomic characteristics is irrelevant. For example, we would not cross a Chihuahua with a Saint Bernard with the expectation of producing a working sheep dog, even though all would have the same taxonomic characteristics. In those instances where detailed investigations have been performed, hatchery fish are characteristically found to have less reproductive success under natural conditions than do wild fish.
Allowing the returning Fall Creek hatchery coho stock to naturally reproduce would undercut the stateās goal to manage wild populations in a manner that will conserve their adaptiveness, genetic diversity, and natural evolutionary processes as called for in OAR 635-007-0536 (Policies for Wild Fish Gene Conservation). Interbreeding of naturally produced Alsea coho with the hatchery produced fish would reduce the wild fishās adaptiveness and genetic diversity. This is because the hatchery fish return and spawn within a narrow window of time which is poorly suited for natural survival, and do not possess the fitness required for successful natural reproduction. The genetic makeup of a resulting population of mixed wild and hatchery lineages would dilute the unique genetics of the wild coho that have adapted for survival in this basin. Rather, the long-term ability to restore wild coho in the Alsea Basin depends, at least in part, on the ability to prevent the loss of important genetic resources through dilution with the present Fall Creek hatchery stock or other stocks with inappropriate characteristics.
The protocol for operation of the Fall Creek hatchery is to open a trap at the hatchery when the first fish return, usually at the end of October or early in November. Historically, fish would be selected for brood stock, killed, and stripped of eggs and sperm. The eggs would then be fertilized and hatched in the hatchery environment. Fish used for hatchery brood stock do not spawn naturally. When reared to smolt stage (about eighteen months), the juvenile fish would be released from the hatchery to migrate to the ocean.
The department hopes to accomplish two important goals by operation of the trap and sorting facility at the Fall Creek hatchery this year. At the trap, wild fish are separated from fish of known hatchery origin (identified by fin mark and/or a coded wire tag). Wild fish are passed above the hatchery barrier to spawn naturally. Returning fish are monitored to sort out those hatchery fish with coded wire tags that are part of a double index tag study described below in paragraph 23. Thus, unless the trap is operated, 1) we will loose information from the double index tag survey, and 2) we would have no way to sort and pass wild fish above the hatchery to spawn naturally in preferred coho habitat, which is otherwise blocked by the hatchery barrier except during high flows periods later in the year.
If we do not operate the trap, the returning hatchery fish will attempt to find natural spawning areas, thus leading to the greater likelihood of undesirable hatchery/wild crosses, or hatchery/hatchery crosses occupying habitat needed for naturally produced fish.
The department has been operating a double index tag study with this group of fish for the past three years. In this study, a large group of these smolts were implanted with a coded wire tag in their snout, which can be detected with a magnetic wand. The group was then subdivided into two groups, one of which had their adipose fin removed, and the other which did not. From this study, we expect to be able to determine the differential effects of ocean fisheries on hatchery and wild fish, since in the ocean fishery the fish with adipose fins and the coded wire tag will appear to be wild fish. If we are unable to recapture these fish, we cannot read the coded wire tag information, and will lost information from this study in which we have invested approximately $20,000. Because of this study, many fish returning to the hatchery will not be fin-clipped. Until we have sorted out the coded wire tag implanted fish, we cannot determine which of the returning fish are actually of hatchery and which are of wild origin.
The State of Oregon no longer is a party to a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regarding management of Oregon Coastal Natural (OCN) coho. By letter dated October 28, 1998, the state withdrew from the MOA effective when Executive Order 99-01 was filed with the Secretary of State. Copies of the letter and Executive Order withdrawing from the MOA are attached to this affidavit as Exhibits 1 and 2. No other agreement with or program involving NMFS affects the stateās operation of this hatchery or the management of these hatchery fish. NMFS has not published a 4(d) rule regarding these fish. Until such a rule is published, there is no take prohibition relating to OCN coho populations. Because these hatchery fish were excluded from the listed populations, even the publication of a 4(d) rule would not affect the stateās management of the hatchery stock.
The State of Oregon was served with the Plaintiffās 60-day notice of intent to sue the state for an alleged violation of the Endangered Species Act on October 13, 1999.
REFERENCES CITED
Nickelson, T.E., M.F. Solazzi, and S.L. Johnson. 1986. Use of hatchery coh salmon (Onchorynchus kisutch) presmolts to rebuild wild populations in Oregon coast streams. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 43:2443-2449.
Reisenbichler, R.R. and Rubin, S.P. 1999. Genetic changes from artificial propagation of Pacific salmon affect the productivity and viability of supplemented populations ö ICES Journal of Marine Scient, 56: 459-466.