Purposeas a benefit to the public, this project contributes to the program for increasing natural production of chinook salmon with a goal of sustaining populations of chinook salmon in the central…

The Bureau of Reclamation awarded $1.45M to the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) on September 19, 2025, under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, Title XXXIV (CFDA 15.512) to conduct a mark-and-recapture program through September 30, 2030. The project delivers five core task areas: project management and administration; coded wire tagging of juvenile Chinook salmon; ocean harvest sampling of tagged fish across recreational and commercial fisheries from Crescent City to Avila Beach; laboratory processing of coded wire tags; and age determination analysis. These activities generate critical fisheries management data to distinguish naturally produced versus hatchery-origin fall-run Chinook salmon in the Central Valley, with specific focus on Coleman and Nimbus Hatchery contributions.

The program's primary deliverable is population proportion estimates and monitoring data that enable five key objectives: evaluating hatchery and naturally produced fish contribution rates to Central Valley populations and ocean fisheries; assessing genetic and ecological hatchery impacts; evaluating natural production restoration actions; estimating ocean and inland fishery exploitation rates; and measuring straying impacts. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife serves as the primary sub-awardee, providing environmental scientist oversight and fishery technician resources for ocean sampling and coastal port monitoring. These outputs directly support more effective water operations management, habitat restoration design, fishing regulation development, and hatchery operations optimization across California's Central Valley fisheries system.

Purposeas a benefit to the public, this project contributes to the program for increasing natural production of chinook salmon with a goal of sustaining populations of chinook salmon in the central valley rivers. This mark and recapture program is needed to determine and sustain the natural production of chinook salmon which will provide various economic, recreational, and environmental benefits to society, and increase flexibility for water use in california.activities to be performedtask 1: project management administrationtask 2: coded wire taggingtask 3: ocean harvest samplingtask 4: coded wire tag processing labtask 5: age determinationoutcomethe tasks conducted under the agreement will determine the naturally produced and hatchery proportions of fall-run chinook salmon from the central valley, specifically the coleman and nimbus hatchery portions. These are the hatcheries funded by reclamation. Other entities are funding the remainder of the program in amounts proportional to their hatchery contribution of fish. Specific objectives follow:1.evaluate the contribution rates of hatchery and naturally produced fish to central valley chinook salmon populations and to the common property FISHERIES2.monitor and evaluate the hatchery programs genetic and ecological effects on natural POPULATIONS3.evaluate the success of restoration actions designed to increase natural production of central valley chinook SALMON4.estimate exploitation rates in ocean and inland FISHERIES5.evaluate the impacts of straying on natural populations.beneficiary: the publicthe project will enable more effective fisheries and water management to occur. This includes the operations of hatcheries (broodstock selection, spawning, numbers of fish to raise, release strategies), the design of habitat restoration projects, ocean and freshwater fishing regulations, water operations (optimization of water temperature and flow management). Reclamation S mission is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the american public. These fish live in the water managed by reclamation and this project assists in managing that water in an environmentally and economically sound manner.