CCA Broodstock Article

Commercial fisheries, avian smolt predation, pinniped adult predation, access to habitat and the destruction of it, all share responsibility for Oregon's reduced steelhead returns. With that adversity, hatcheries are a necessity to have sustainable populations for harvest. To achieve the best genetics for hatchery production, capture of wild broodstock is also a necessity. Capture is done by several different means. Ideally, they're line-caught by anglers. Supplemental wild broodstock are collected when they are caught in hatchery traps and fish weirs.

Assistant Hatchery Manager Eric Hammonds prepares to collect a wild broodstock fish caught by an angler​
The hypothesis at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center is that line caught wild broodstock develop a genetic disposition for offspring to be line caught as well. Line caught wild broodstock are placed in tubes at collection points for pickup. The tubes are placed with the fish facing upstream so a constant supply of water flows through. The tubes constrict the movement of the fish to prevent injury. The enclosure reduces stress by acting as a visual buffer from environmental disturbances.

Once at the hatchery, they're placed into a small container with an anesthetic to ease handling without causing physical damage. Once the anesthetic takes effect, fish are given an antibiotic to prevent diseases or fungal growths while being held at the facility. The process of handling fish removes some of their protective slime layer that defends them from infections. They're tagged and placed into circular tanks, held until they are "ripe," and spawned at the hatchery, then released back into the river. The program's goal is 40 pairs of wild broodstock fish, but rarely reaches that goal due to the combination of low returns and lack of participation.

Traditional hatchery broodstock lack genetic diversity. The theory behind the OHRC "Biter Study" is that decades of spawning traditional hatchery broodstock that return to the trap has evolved to become less likely to be angler caught, because most hatchery fish caught by anglers are harvested, rather than spawned.

An ODFW volunteer places a wild broodstock fish in a tank on a truck bed for transport to the hatchery facility​

Traditional hatchery broodstock and first generation wild broodstock (or "F1" fish) are marked with an adipose fin clip, and separated by maxillary clips that differentiate returning hatchery adults as traditional broodstock or F1. Unlike the collected wild broodstock fish that are returned back to the river after being spawned, the returning traditional hatchery broodstock bucks are typically killed when they appear in the trap, while the females are stripped of eggs and returned to the river as kelts to swim back to the salt and return to the river again. This practice ensures that the two groups of fish are less likely to spawn with each other in the gravel.

Opponents argue that wild steelhead can't sustain being farmed to create hatchery fish for harvest. It is also undeniable that there is room for human error in this process. While the success rate for wild broodstock collection is extremely high (in the upper 90 percent range) accidents happen.


This fish was phoned in by guide Ryan Beck 20 minutes prior to arriving at the next boat ramp at Farmer's Creek on the Nestucca River. The fish is being placed in a larger livewell in a truckbed for transport to the Cedar Creek facility.​

Some wild broodstock collection programs employ the use of livewells complete with battery operated water circulation to aerate the water and keep oxygen levels high during transport. However, battery failures, or contamination of the livewell are possible. Such incidents are rare and represent less than 1% of the wild broodstock adults collected.

Wild broodstock programs are typically funded and operated by volunteer organizations. The Alsea Sportsman's Association provides the collection tubes for the Alsea Hatchery and the OHRC biter study project. Tillamook Anglers and Nestucca Anglers provide livewells for their region. Cedar Creek hatchery on Three Rivers has a self-service drop off area for after hours. There, fish are placed into a raceway and marked by quantity and sex on a report form. In 2019 the Alsea hatchery adopted the self-service concept, and is making improvements for 2020. 

The Nestucca wild broodstock collection program quota is 65 pairs. Fish that are placed into the raceway are given Parasite S (Formulin) 5 days a week administered by a flow-thru treatment in order to keep fungal growth at bay. The raceway is fed through an up-welling system, rather than fed from one end to the other. This prevents fish from following their natural jumping instincts, reducing physical stress. Fish in the raceway are collected for spawning by the use of a "crowder" which essentially functions similar to a seine net that allows personnel to net the individual fish for spawning, and pass fish that aren't ripe back over the crowder and into the raceway.

Guide Ryan Beck pulls up to the Cedar Creek raceway to drop off a ​wild broodstock fish

The quotas for wild broodstock collection are determined by the number of required adults to produce the required amount of eggs to produce the required amount of smolts for release within a margin of loss during the process. These quotas of adults collected for the program are determined to be 1-2% of the wild population, mostly by historical data from redd surveys.

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A clipboard displays the date, sex, and quantity of wild broodstock fish that are placed in the raceways by participants in the program​

The Alsea hatchery uses a circular PVC tank system that is intended to cause less harm by using smooth surfaces and removing the concrete corners that are typically standard with the construction of rectangular raceways. In recent years, additional circular tanks have been added to reduce crowding.

Circular holding tank used by the Alsea Hatchery​ for holding wild broodstock fish

The number of wild broodstock fish being collected by anglers at the Alsea Hatchery pales in comparison to the numbers at Cedar Creek's facility. A hot topic of discussion within the Alsea Sportsman's Association is the lack of angler participation in wild broodstock collection due to mistrust in the handling of the program by the Alsea Hatchery in recent years. The ASA sponsors seasonal events rewarding anglers for contributing the most fish to the wild broodstock program as an incentive for angler participation.  However, even with upgrades and equipment repair, the wild broodstock programs that operate at the Alsea Hatchery are still trying to repair their public relations. Hopefully learning from some past mistakes will help the program continue to improve, and regain the trust and participation from skeptical anglers and guides. In the meantime, the program is trying to portray a positive image in negative time.

In 2018, the Linn Benton Chapter of Coastal Conservation Association held it's annual banquet and fundraiser, drawing record attendance. With the formation of the Siletz Anglers Association, there is a great deal of momentum to improve our local fisheries, and the spotlight has been shining on potential improvements for the Siletz River.

Meanwhile, that spotlight has cast a shadow on the other side of the mountain to the nearby Alsea Hatchery. The formation of the SAA received a huge response in it's first year, and has generated more than enough angler participation. Shifting that involvement into a collaborative effort to improve the Alsea Hatchery (where Siletz fish are raised), both neighboring systems stand to greatly benefit from one another.

The Siletz program has a quota to line capture 35 pairs of wild broodstock. The Alsea program's quota is 40 pairs. Historically, the Siletz reaches it's annual quota consistently, while the Alsea program has not once met that quota. During the height of the 2018 winter steelhead season, Asst. Fish Biologist Paul Olmsted requested that collection participants on the Siletz put the brakes on wild broostock collection on March 25th. Olmsted told participants that: "You guys are too good!" and "This is a good problem to have."

Wild broodstock collection numbers are listed as pairs because they're spawned using a 1:1 male to female ratio in a 3 x 3 matrix. Individual groups are kept separate to encourage genetic diversity. As of the same week, the Siletz had collected 33 pairs for spawning during the course of the season, 2 pair short of the quota with another 6 weeks left of the season. By that time, the Alsea program had only collected 15 spawning pairs and were holding another 9 fish until they ripen for spawning. The Alsea program had also captured an additional 4 bucks and 7 hens through traps, a secondary, less desired method for collecting wild broodstock for spawning. If the quota of 40 pairs of wild broodstock are not collected for the Alsea program, hatchery stock are used in the spawning matrix as a last resort. If hatchery fish are used in the wild broodstock program, at least 30 percent of the broodstock will be of wild fish origin. (See page 6 of the Alsea Hatchery Program Management Plan)

Alsea Hatchery Angler Fish Drop Off

Room for improvement in the Alsea program
Boaters are often hesitant to use tubes. They're susceptible to poaching, wildlife harassment, and liberation of the collection broodstock fish. Few anglers made use of a new drop-off area at the Alsea Hatchery in 2018. A large majority of regional fishing guides have shifted their focus on running trips on the nearby Siletz River, leaving a void in the Alsea program. One of the top contributors to the program in 2018 was a 19 year old Fisheries & Wildlife student at Oregon State University by the name of Logan Ellis. Leading by example, the teenage angler built his own livewell broodstock tank from scratch. This year, there are plans to expand the use of broodstook tanks to Alsea anglers to make collection more efficient.

Besides meeting the quota for the Alsea program, there are simple improvements and small projects that organizations like the Alsea Sportsman's Association, Siletz Anglers Association, and our local chapter of CCA can accomplish to circumvent the bureaucracy of state and federal funding. It's also our responsibility to see that our investments in these facilities are more than merely monetary and include an element of physical participation.