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Published: 1996

Total Pages: 236

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The Nez Perce Tribe has proposed to build and operate the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery (NPTH) in the Clearwater River subbasin of Idaho for the purpose of restoring self-sustaining populations of spring, summer, and fall chinook salmon to their native habitats. The project comprises a combination of incubation and rearing facilities, satellite rearing facilities, juvenile and adult collection sites, and associated production and harvest management activities. As currently conceived, the NPTH program will produce approximately 768,000 spring chinook parr, 800,000 summer chinook fry, and 2,000,000 fall chinook fry on an annual basis. Hatchery fish would be spawned, reared, and released under conditions that promote wild-type characteristics, minimize genetic changes in both hatchery and wild chinook populations, and minimize undesirable ecological interactions. The primary objective is to enable hatchery-produced fish to return to reproduce naturally in the streams in which they are released. These and other characteristics of the project are described in further detail in the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery Master Plan (Larson and Mobrand 1992), the 1995 Supplement to the Master Plan (Johnson et al. 1995), and the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery Program Environmental Impact Statement (Bonneville Power Administration et al. 1996). The report in hand is referred to in project literature as the NPTH Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) Plan. This report describes monitoring and evaluation activities that will help NPTH managers determine. whether they were successful in restoring chinook salmon populations and avoiding adverse ecological impacts. Program success will be gauged primarily by changes in the abundance and distribution of supplemented chinook populations. The evaluation of project-related impacts will focus on the biological effects of constructing and operating NPTH hatchery facilities, introducing hatchery fish into the natural environment, and removing or displacing wild fish, including targeted chinook, non-targeted chinook, and resident species.