Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resources Management

Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resources Management "Protecting and Conserving Our Way of Life" ~ For more information please visit our website at www.nptfisheries.org

Over 150 years ago, the Nez Perce Tribe signed a treaty with the United States government. In the Treaty of 1855, the Nez Perce retained total fishing rights on all streams and rivers within the boundaries of the original 13.4 million acre reservation that extended outward to “all usual and accustomed places” including the mainstem Columbia River. Tribal ancestors maintained these rights because t

he once abundant salmon runs were vital to their way of life and future generations. Since then, salmon and steelhead runs have declined to crisis proportions due largely to hydroelectric power developments, habitat degradation, water quality impacts, and over-harvesting. Today, maintaining a healthy 13-plus million acre watershed and improving survival of salmon and steelhead under the auspices of the 1855 Treaty, rests with the Tribe’s Department of Fisheries Resources Management program. Our vision is to recover and restore all species and populations of anadromous and resident fish within the traditional lands of the Nez Perce Tribe. The Fisheries program works throughout the ceded lands and has offices in Powell, Red River, Grangeville, Orofino, McCall, Sweetwater, Lapwai and Joseph, OR. We coordinate and interact with State, Federal and Tribal agencies and committees and private entities in assessing and implementing fish recovery and restoration plans. We monitor fish populations and provide recommendations and overview on Endangered Species Act (ESA) issues. We also provide recommendations for restoration and protection of critical habitat for fish populations and protect fish and wildlife resources through conservation actions.

10/27/2017

A new study published in Scientific Reports finds that a lower abundance of salmon in a sea noisy from vessel traffic means the whales must forage longer to find their food — stressing their already-endangered population.

10/27/2017

Three new studies examine the past — and future — and find hints of fast, and large, sea level rise.

10/26/2017

Last summer’s escape of more than 100,000 Atlantic salmon from a fish farm in Puget Sound has renewed a debate among scientists about whether or not these fish can survive long term in the wild.

10/26/2017

A recent study traced a major coho salmon die-off to contaminants from roads and automobiles - brake dust, oil, fuel, chemical fluids - that hitch a ride on stormwater and flow into watersheds. The contaminants are so deadly, they kill the salmon within 24 hours.

10/26/2017

Okanagan Nation Alliance sent a delegation to the RDCK last week

10/26/2017

This year’s low number of steelhead returning to spawn are getting a helping hand from the Nez Perce Tribe and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission this week when fisheries biologists are releasing approximately 100 wild, B-run steelhead into the Snake River. Funded by the Bonneville Powe...

Tribe Seeds Streams with Chinook Redds
10/25/2017

Tribe Seeds Streams with Chinook Redds

Back to the wild: About 100 steelhead repeat spawners released on Snake River • By ERIC BARKER of the Tribune• Oct 25, 2...
10/25/2017

Back to the wild: About 100 steelhead repeat spawners released on Snake River
• By ERIC BARKER of the Tribune
• Oct 25, 2017 Updated 3 hrs ago

Lewiston High School senior Sean Schumacher lifts one of about 100 wild B-run steelhead released into the Snake River below Lower Granite Dam on Tuesday. The effort is part of a project involving the Nez Perce Tribe, Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission and the University of Idaho to recondition female steelhead so they can spawn a second time. Schumacher is doing his senior project on steelhead.

ILLIA - Wild B-run steelhead are getting a needed boost from a program that seeks to capitalize on the species' ability to spawn more than once.
About 100 repeat spawners were released below Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River Monday, after spending six to 18 months at the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery.
"The really important part of it is these are wild fish," said Doug Hatch, a senior research scientist with the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission at Portland.
Steelhead are unique among Columbia River anadromous fish in that they don't necessarily die after reproducing. Females of the species have the ability to make their way back to the ocean to feed, regain strength and eventually repeat their spawning odyssey. Those that do it are bigger and produce as many as 50 percent more eggs than first-time spawners.
About 50 percent of wild Snake River steelhead become kelts - those that attempt the post-spawn downstream journey as adults. But almost none of them make it. Hatch said only about 0.4 percent of any given Snake River steelhead run is comprised of repeat spawners.
The commission, along with the Nez Perce Tribe and the University of Idaho, operates a program that seeks to boost wild steelhead numbers by helping kelts become repeat spawners. Instead of letting the fish fend for themselves while trying to reach the ocean, they are intercepted and taken to the hatchery at Cherrylane to be reconditioned.
The fish released Tuesday were in beautiful shape, but when biologists plucked them from a fish trap at Lower Granite Dam in the spring of 2016 they were skinny and haggard. They'd just spent about half a year in fresh water. To reach their spawning grounds, they escaped sea lions on the lower Columbia River, climbed concrete ladders at eight dams and managed to avoid being caught by thousands of anglers. They battled each other for the best spawning habitat, used their bodies to dig egg nests in gravel and did it all without eating.
At the hatchery they were fed a diet high in fat. Biologists monitored their blood to determine when they were ready to spawn again. The program is one of the many steps the federal government is taking to try to prevent steelhead from going extinct. Other actions include spilling water at the dams to help juvenile steelhead survive their trip to the ocean, improving spawning habitat to make it more productive and taking care to reduce competition between fish that spawn naturally and those raised in hatcheries.
Despite those steps, wild steelhead remain in trouble. Predictions vary, but according to some estimates as few as 800 wild B-run steelhead may return to the Clearwater and Salmon rivers this fall. Hatch said about 500 of those may be female. So releasing the 100 reconditioned repeat spawners has the ability to boost wild B-run spawners by 20 percent.
"Certainly in these down years for steelhead, it's a super safety net program," he said.
The program, which is limited by a lack of available space at the hatchery, is poised to get a boost. The captured kelts are kept in two small circular tanks at the hatchery. Plans are in the works to construct a new building with six large tanks, which will help meet program target of releasing about 180 repeat spawners annually.
"In the next year, we should have the facility built and we can really attack the project goals," Hatch said.

10/13/2017

Climate change adds another stress to the Northwest salmon and steelhead that have been beaten back with dams, fishing nets, hooks, pollution and development for 150 years. The region got a preview of how bad it can be by the summer of 2015 when hotter temperatures killed millions of fish.

10/13/2017

A bill sponsored by several U.S. House members from the Northwest aims to overturn two recent court decisions on Columbia and Snake river dams.Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon rejected the federal plan for managing dams to protect salmon in the Columbia River Basin.He then ordered

10/13/2017

Surveys off Washington’s coast detected low numbers of juvenile salmon from the Columbia River, including spring chinook, a bad omen for orcas and other species that rely on the king of fish.

08/16/2017

Idaho Power must resolve a dispute between Idaho and Oregon and Northwest tribes over fish passage if it is to get a new license for its Hells Canyon complex of three dams.

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104 Lo Lo Street
Lapwai, ID
83540

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Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

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