Attachment_19-Coleman_NFH_FY21_Annual_Report.pdf

COLEMAN NATIONAL FISH HATCHERY

ANNUAL REPORT

FISCAL YEAR – 2021

Prepared by:

U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

COLEMAN NATIONAL FISH HATCHERY

ANDERSON, CALIFORNIA 96007

Table of Contents

LIST OF TABLES AND APPENDICES

INTRODUCTION

STATION HIGHLIGHTS

Funding

Personnel

FISH PRODUCTION SUMMARY

Fall Chinook Salmon (FCS) Brood Year 2020 (CSA-FBW-20-COL)

Broodstock Collection and Spawning

Incubation

Juvenile Rearing

Marking and Tagging

Release

Late Fall Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2020 (CSA-LBW-20-COL)

Juvenile Rearing

Release

Late Fall Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2021 (CSA-LBW-21-COL)

Broodstock Collection and Spawning

Incubation

Juvenile Rearing

Steelhead Brood Year 2020 (CVS-WBW-20-COL)

Juvenile Rearing

Release

Steelhead Brood Year 2021 (CVS-WBW-21-COL)

Broodstock Collection and Spawning

Broodstock Reconditioning

Incubation

Juvenile Rearing

Winter Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2020 (WCS-WBD-20-LIV)

Egg and Fry Transfers (To Coleman NFH and Mount Lassen Trout Farms)

Juvenile Rearing (Coleman NFH)

Juvenile Rearing (Mount Lassen Trout Farms)

Release

Winter Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2021 (WCS-WBD-21-LIV)

Broodstock Collection and Spawning

CYCLICAL MAINTENANCE AND CONSTRUCTION

Maintenance Activities

Water Treatment and Delivery

Fish Ladder and Spawning Building

Fish Distribution Trucks

Other Government Vehicles

Electrical

Permits and Reporting

Renovations

Telecommunications

Mount Lassen Trout Farm (MLTF)

Livingston Stone NFH

Other Maintenance

OUTREACH, INFORMATION, AND EDUCTION

MEETINGS, TRAINING, AND OTHER EVENTS

List of Tables and Appendices

TABLES

1. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 number of female, male, and jack broodstock spawned at Coleman NFH by date and take

2. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 disposition and number of fish collected at Coleman NFH from 6 October 2020 through 3 December 2020

3. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 crosses culled prior to inventory and estimated green eggs culled by take

4. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take

5. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 juvenile fall Chinook salmon in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

6. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 number released, location, fish/lb, and total weight by date and cwt

7. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 juvenile late fall Chinook salmon in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

8. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 number released, location, fish/lb, and total weight by date and cwt

9. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2021 numbers of hatchery-origin and natural-origin, male, female, and jack broodstock spawned at Coleman NFH by date and take

10. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2021 disposition and number of fish handled at Coleman NFH

11. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2021 numbers of hatchery-origin green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take

12. Summary by date of brood year 2021 late fall chinook salmon treatments, dosage, and rearing units/groups treated

13. Summary by month of number brood year 2021 juvenile late fall Chinook salmon in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

14. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 juvenile steelhead in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

15. Steelhead brood year 2020 number released, location, fish/lb, and total weight by date, and raceway

16. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of female and male, short, and long broodstock spawned at Coleman NFH by date and take

17. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take from short females

18. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take from long females

19. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage from short and long females 22

20. Summary by month of numbers of brood year 2021 juvenile steelhead in tanks and raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

21. Summary by date of brood year 2021 steelhead treatments, dosage, and rearing units/groups treated

22. Lot, take, date spawned, numbers of eyed eggs, life stage at transfer, number transferred, transfer dates, and rearing facility for progeny of winter Chinook captive brood stock spawned at the Livingston Stone NFH and transferred to the Coleman NFH and Mount Lassen Trout Farm

23. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 winter Chinook salmon reared at Coleman National Fish Hatchery in tanks and raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

24. Winter Chinook salmon brood year 2020 reared at CNFH and MLTF, number released, CWT, fish/lb, weight, and release location by date and lot

25. Winter Chinook salmon brood year 2021 disposition and number of fish passed and collected for broodstock at Coleman NFH from 20 November 2020 through 20 May 2021

26. Take, date spawned, numbers of eyed eggs, life stage at transfer, transfer dates, and rearing facility for progeny of winter Chinook salmon captive brood stock spawned at the Livingston Stone NFH and transferred to the Coleman NFH and Mount Lassen Trout Farm

APPENDICES

A. Coleman NFH Station Personnel

B. Lot Designator Codes

C. Number and Disposition of winter Chinook salmon returning to the Coleman NFH in 2019 and 2020 D. Station Photos

INTRODUCTION

Located in California’s Central Valley, Coleman National Fish Hatchery (NFH) is situated on the north bank of Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. Coleman NFH was established in 1942 to mitigate for the loss of salmonid spawning habitat that ensued following the construction of Shasta and Keswick Dams on the Sacramento River. The hatchery is operated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) and funded by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). The hatchery propagates four distinct runs of fish: fall Chinook salmon, late fall Chinook salmon, winter Chinook salmon, and steelhead. Annual production goals for Coleman NFH are 12 million fall Chinook salmon, 1 million late fall Chinook salmon, and 600,000 steelhead. In addition to these mitigation production goals, Coleman NFH is rearing winter Chinook salmon on a provisional basis as part of an effort to reintroduce the endangered fish to the Battle Creek drainage.

The hatchery is situated on 75 acres of land, and an additional 63 acres exist in perpetual easements. The hatchery has three water intake structures on Battle Creek, allowing for uninterrupted delivery of rearing water to the facility. Water treatment at Coleman NFH is accomplished through a combination of settling, filtration, and ozonation. There are 2 settling ponds that are used to reduce suspended solids prior to filtration. A four bay Dual Media Filter system capable of filtering 45,000 gallons per minute further reduces levels of suspended solids.

The Ozone Treatment Plant is capable of treating 30,000 gallons per minute and greatly reduces the risk of fish pathogens being introduced into the facility.

The hatchery operates a barrier weir spanning the entire width of Battle Creek, capable of diverting fish through a fish ladder and into several large broodstock holding ponds. The Spawning Building contains a cross-channel equipped with a hydraulic fish-crowder connecting the primary holding ponds. A tower containing a vertical fish lift and an anesthetizing tank connects the cross-channel with the sorting area in the spawning building.

The facility has a combination of 28 15x150ft raceways and 30 8x80ft raceways for juvenile rearing. The Incubation Building houses heath stack incubation trays and early-rearing tanks.

Other buildings on the property include: The Administration Building, Shop Building, Vehicle Storage Building, Fabrication Shop/Maintenance Building, Feed Storage Building, 3 Residences, Chiller Building, and the Emergency Generator Building.

Also located on the facility is the CA/NV Fish Health Center (CA/NV FHC) that consists of two former residences converted into offices and lab spaces, and a Wet Lab located on the south side of the hatchery. Located on the hatchery grounds adjacent to the Wet Lab is the Anderson Field Office, which is a satellite workstation of the Red Bluff Fish and Wildlife Office (Red Bluff FWO).

STATION HIGHLIGHTS

Funding Coleman National Fish Hatchery is fully funded by the USBR.

Personnel At the end of the fiscal year Coleman NFH was staffed with: a Project Leader, a Deputy Project Leader, a Supervisory Facility Operations Specialist, an Administrative Officer, a Fisheries Program Assistant, a Supervisory Fish Biologist, 2 Fish Biologists, an Information and Education Specialist, a Motor Vehicle Operator, 5 Animal Caretakers, 2 Electronic Industrial Control Mechanics, an Electrician, 2 Maintenance Mechanics, and a Maintenance Worker.

Summary of significant staffing changes during fiscal year 2021: Hans Miller (Supervisory Facility Operations Specialist) was hired on 18 September 2021. Matt Peckham was promoted to Fish Biologist on 17 January 2021. Travis Webster and Kaitlin Gooding (Fish Biologists) were both promoted to GS-11. Jeff Freund (Motor Vehicle Operator) retired on 2 January 2021. Clay Hines and Patty Doolittle (Animal Caretakers) were promoted to Permanent. David Costas (Animal Caretaker) was hired on 1 August 2021. Jason Davis (Animal Caretaker) was hired on 15 August 2021. Spencer Gutenberger was promoted to Motor Vehicle Operator on 25 September 2021. See table in Appendix A for a complete list of station personnel.

FISH PRODUCTION SUMMARY

Fall Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2020 (CSA-FBW-20-COL)

Broodstock Collection and Spawning The fish ladder was opened for collection of FCS broodstock on 1 October 2020. The first spawning take occurred on 6 October 2020; over 25% of female FCS handled were found to be ripe, green females and unpaired males were banked in Pond 4 for use on a future date. Spawning continued with sufficient but somewhat lower numbers of broodstock returning. Due to concerns regarding the somewhat low numbers of returning broodstock, green fish were continually banked in both Ponds 4 & 5 and incorporated into future spawning takes. The last take (13) occurred on 12 November 2020, a total of 4,083 crosses were made (Table 1) and 13,767 FCS were handled throughout the spawning season (Table 2).

Table 1. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 number of female, male, and jack broodstock spawned at Coleman NFH by date and take Number Spawned

Date Take Female Male Jack Total 10/6/2020 1 176 178 2 356 10/8/2020 2 239 229 13 468 10/13/2020 3 427 408 30 865 10/14/2020 4 544 534 20 1,098 10/15/2020 5 282 283 3 568 10/20/2020 6 507 473 21 1,001 10/21/2020 7 405 392 18 815 10/22/2020 8 393 368 35 796 10/27/2020 9 374 227 57 658 10/29/2020 10 240 206 31 477 11/3/2020 11 118 112 6 236 11/5/2020 12 270 227 44 541 11/12/2020 13 108 101 8 217

Total 4,083 3,738 288 8,109

Table 2. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 disposition and number of fish collected at Coleman NFH from 6 October 2020 through 3 December 2020

Disposition Female Male Jack Total Spawned 4,083 3,738 288 8,109 Excessed 1,463 498 490 2,451

DIPS1 1,732 1,172 303 3,207

Total 7,278 5,408 1,081 13,767

1. Dead in Pond Salmon (pre-spawn mortality)

Incubation Each year the spawning plan is designed to harvest more eggs than are needed to meet production goals in order to hedge against a lack of ripe fish later in the spawning season and/or poor survival of earlier egg-takes. After inventory, eggs from each take are reduced to aggregates that will populate one or more ponds while attempting to both maintain a normal distribution (bell shaped curve) of eggs over time to mimic the run/spawn timing of the natural population and to retain enough eggs to achieve the production goal of releasing 12 million FCS smolts.

For the third consecutive year an increased number of eggs were retained to evaluate the practice of trucking and releasing FCS smolts offsite at the Scotty’s Landing Boat Ramp on the Sacramento River. The study is in cooperation with the Red Bluff FWO, Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) and the NorCal Guides Association. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the offsite release was canceled during the previous year and all fish were released on station. A portion of the eggs from Takes 1 & 2 were allocated for the offsite release study (see Juvenile Rearing and Release sections for further information regarding this study).

Inventorying of FCS eggs began in late October and was completed during mid-December. Eggs were culled from several takes prior to inventorying (Table 3); this occurred either due to more than enough eggs being taken to meet the objectives for that take and/or the observation of trays with exceptionally low survival just prior to inventory.

Survival of harvested eggs to the ‘eyed egg stage’ was moderate (population mean = 84.4%).

Volumetric sampling estimated the total number of eyed eggs at the time of inventory was 17,187,025. These eggs were further reduced to an estimated 13,954,158 eggs to meet production goals (Table 4).

Table 3. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 crosses culled prior to inventory and estimated green eggs culled by take

Take

Number Of Crosses

Culled

Estimated Green Eggs

2 2 10,000 4 48 240,000 5 30 150,000 6 30 150,000 7 30 150,000 10 2 10,000 Total 142 710,000

Table 4. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take

Date Spawned Take

Green Eggs

Eyed Eggs

Post- Reduction Eyed Eggs

Eggs per

Female

Eggs per oz

Percent Survival to Eyed

Egg Stage 10/6/2020 1 831,563 694,625 686,817 4,725 78.25 83.5 10/8/2020 2 1,213,959 1,058,135 679,412 5,122 81.37 87.2 10/13/2020 3 2,129,689 1,847,519 1,452,150 4,988 79.15 86.8 10/14/2020 4 2,455,833 2,046,222 1,936,200 4,951 76.42 83.3 10/15/2020 5 1,299,270 1,067,640 968,100 5,156 79.19 82.2 10/20/2020 6 2,521,252 2,000,654 1,936,200 5,286 76.39 79.4 10/21/2020 7 1,913,213 1,526,994 1,454,150 5,102 78.42 79.8 10/22/2020 8 2,026,223 1,707,243 1,452,137 5,156 77.80 84.3 10/27/2020 9 2,012,289 1,835,138 968,100 5,380 74.59 91.2 10/29/2020 10 1,268,317 1,102,004 968,100 5,329 72.31 86.9 11/3/2020 11 666,816 590,272 484,050 5,651 73.60 88.5 11/5/2020 12 1,474,427 1,225,887 484,050 5,461 73.10 83.1 11/12/2020 13 545,996 484,692 484,692 5,056 71.70 88.8

Total/Avg. 20,358,847 17,187,025 13,954,158 5,166 76.33 84.4

Juvenile Rearing Take 1 was transferred from the incubation stacks to the 15x150ft raceways (ponding, past:

ponded) on 17 December 2020. Typically, FCS fry are ponded sequentially starting at raceway 1 (while leaving gaps for splitting of raceways); however, due to an unusually late release of BY20 LFCS juveniles, raceways 1-14 were still occupied during December when FCS ponding started.

Therefore, ponding of BY20 FCS started at raceway 28 and continued in descending order. In-pond screens were used to increase the initial density of single pond takes and larger two pond takes were split with a pump and electronic fish counter prior to reaching a density index (DI) of 0.30.

A portion of fry (n = 405,534) from takes 1 and 2 were ponded in the 8x80ft raceways for use in an experimental offsite release study. The study is at the request of the Golden Gate Salmon Association (GGSA) and the NorCal Guides Association to evaluate the practice of trucking and releasing FCS smolts offsite at the Scotty’s Landing Boat Ramp on the Sacramento River. The study was scheduled to have a 3 year duration and began with FCS BY18; however, due to the covid pandemic the offsite release of BY19 FCS fry was cancelled in the previous year.

FCS fry were fed the BioOregon BioVita line (high energy) of fish feeds after ponding. FCS were initially fed at 1% body weight per day for the first 1-2 days, then increased to 2% for 7 days, and finally increased again to 2.4%. Feed conversion and growth were good (Table 5) with fish reaching tagging and release targets earlier than normal.

In the previous year, BY19 FCS fry had increased levels of mortality after ponding and were diagnosed with thiamine deficiency syndrome. Adult salmon may develop a thiamine deficiency if their diet composition is heavily comprised of prey fish containing high concentrations of the enzyme thiaminase (an enzyme that degrades thiamine). Furthermore, the ova developing within thiamine deficient adult female salmon may not contain adequate levels of the nutrient for early ontogeny of salmon fry prior to the start of exogenous feeding. Testing of eggs from BY20 FCS showed that a portion of the female broodstock had produced eggs deficient in thiamine. FCS fry had somewhat elevated levels of mortality after ponding and some fish exhibited symptoms consistent with thiamine deficiency syndrome (lethargic and corkscrew-swimming behavior). No thiamine treatments were done on BY20 FCS and fish appeared generally healthy after a few weeks of exogenous feeding.

Table 5. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 juvenile fall Chinook salmon in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

Month

Number In

Raceways Mortality

Mean Feed Fed (lbs)

(Fish/lb)

Length (in)

Density Index

(DI)

Feed Conversion

(FCR)

December 5,720,735 1,944 1,088.2 1.4 0.12 0.70 224 January 12,451,931 45,504 572.7 1.8 0.21 0.62 7,640 February 13,691,352 60,974 242.0 2.4 0.21 0.59 22,624 March 6,419,646 22,058 127.6 2.8 0.24 0.85 36,490 April 888,256 2,617 80.5 3.3 0.16 0.92 13,825 May1 - 0 59.6 3.6 - - 2,548

1. Size at release

Marking and Tagging Coded wire tagging (CWT; tagging) and adipose-fin clipping (marking) the fall Chinook salmon commenced during the last week of February and was completed on April 13. The production release group of FCS were marked and tagged at a 25% constant fractional rate, with each raceway receiving a unique CWT code. FCS reared for the paired onsite and Butte City release study were marked and tagged at a 100% rate. The AutoFish System™ used in the marking and tagging process provides an accurate census of the fish population in each raceway processed. The number generated by the tagging census was found to be 822,739 fish less than the hatchery inventory number (~6.0%). This difference represents the mortality between egg inventory and ponding (after-hatch loss) which would be very difficult to enumerate independently.

Release Due to ongoing extreme drought conditions FCS growth was accelerated as much as possible to allow for earlier production releases to occur before environmental conditions in the migration corridor deteriorated further. There were 3 production releases into Battle Creek, totaling 11,670,791 (Table 6). Two of the production releases occurred in mid-March and one in early- April.

In addition to the production releases of BY20 FCS; a paired offsite (Butte City) and onsite experimental release occurred. This release was part of a 3-year study at the request of the GGSA and the NorCal Guides Association. The study began in 2019 with paired releases of BY18 FCS;

however, the study was cancelled the following year in 2020 due to the covid pandemic. The aim of the study is to evaluate the relative survival and return of fish released onsite into Battle Creek and those releases into a net pen at Scotty’s Landing on the Sacramento River. At the time of release, it was determined that the water was too shallow at Scotty’s Landing to accommodate the net pens and the fish were instead released directly into the Sacramento River at the Butte City Boat Ramp.

Table 6. Fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 number released, location, fish/lb, and total weight by date and cwt

Date CWT Total

Released Release Location

Total Weight

(lbs) 3/10/2021 056546 454,311 Battle Creek 149.6 3,037 3/10/2021 056543 423,518 Battle Creek 99.7 4,248 3/10/2021 056542 411,202 Battle Creek 105.2 3,910 3/18/2022 056555 444,983 Battle Creek 164.0 2,713 3/18/2022 056554 447,637 Battle Creek 173.0 2,588 3/18/2022 056553 457,568 Battle Creek 167.8 2,727 3/18/2022 056552 460,315 Battle Creek 126.9 3,627 3/18/2022 056551 446,200 Battle Creek 121.0 3,688 3/18/2022 056550 466,177 Battle Creek 120.5 3,869 3/18/2022 056549 461,552 Battle Creek 114.6 4,028 3/18/2022 056548 442,960 Battle Creek 118.9 3,726 3/18/2022 056547 471,995 Battle Creek 112.6 4,192 3/18/2022 056545 465,421 Battle Creek 117.2 3,971 3/18/2022 056544 430,937 Battle Creek 119.4 3,609 3/24/2022 056570 92,718 Battle Creek 80.5 1,153 3/24/2022 056573 92,337 Battle Creek 85.3 1,082 3/26/2022 056571 92,156 Butte City 75.8 1,216 3/26/2022 056572 94,294 Butte City 84.6 1,115 4/8/2022 056567 437,407 Battle Creek 138.0 3,170 4/8/2022 056566 488,957 Battle Creek 119.1 4,105 4/8/2022 056565 421,713 Battle Creek 105.0 4,016 4/8/2022 056564 485,091 Battle Creek 109.1 4,446 4/8/2022 056563 415,179 Battle Creek 95.5 4,347 4/8/2022 056562 453,345 Battle Creek 89.5 5,065 4/8/2022 056561 471,901 Battle Creek 91.0 5,186 4/8/2022 056560 425,654 Battle Creek 94.3 4,514 4/8/2022 056559 453,716 Battle Creek 91.7 4,948 4/8/2022 056558 437,486 Battle Creek 94.3 4,639 4/8/2022 056557 439,217 Battle Creek 90.9 4,832 4/8/2022 056556 456,349 Battle Creek 85.3 5,350

5/3/2022-5/4/2022 056568 448,265 San Rafael Bay1 67.0 6,699 5/17/2022-5/18/2022 056569 440,616 San Rafael Bay1 52.2 8,439

Total/Avg. 12,931,177 104.1 124,255

1. Released at the Marin Rod and Gun Club Boat Ramp

By the time that the last two raceways were marked and tagged, environmental conditions in the river and delta had drastically deteriorated. An evaluation of in river temperature, flow, salinity, and Delta Cross Channel Gate Operations was made (trucking triggers) and it was determined that an onsite release of these fish would likely result in no or very low survival.

The two remaining raceways were split into four raceways to allow for the fish to be reared to a larger size prior to release. The larger size at release ensures that fish have fully smolted and will be able to osmoregulate in salt water. Each release occurred over a 2-day period. Trucking was accomplished using the 2002 Freightliner and Brown Ford fish-hauling trucks. Ice, no-foam, NovAqua (artificial slime), and salt were added to maintain water temperature and reduce fish stress during hauling. A chase vehicle followed the fish hauling trucks with additional ice which was used as needed. Fish were released at the Marin Rod and Gun Club boat ramp.

Late Fall Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2020 (CSA-LBW-20-COL)

Juvenile Rearing At the beginning of the fiscal year there were 879,398 juvenile brood year 2020 LFCS on station with a mean size of 28.4 fish/lb. Feed conversion rate was exceptionally good for LFCS during October (mean FCR 0.66), before slowing (mean 1.62 FCR) during the month of December (Table 7). Very low rates of feed conversion in LFCS are often observed during the last months of rearing and may be attributable to changes in condition factor of fish undergoing the process of smoltification.

Table 7. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 juvenile late fall Chinook salmon in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

Month

Number In

Raceways Mortality

Mean Feed

(in)

Density Index

(DI)

Feed Conversion

(FCR)

October 875,209 189 16.5 5.5 0.12 0.66 14,107

November 874,892 217 12.9 6.0 0.14 0.73 11,594 December 874,785 107 11.3 6.3 0.15 1.62 11,887 January1 0 14 11.1 6.3 - - 2,004

1. Size at release

Release Production releases of LFCS typically occur in November or December and are timed to coincide with storm events that increase flow and turbidity in the migratory corridor aiding rates of downstream migration and providing cover from predators. Due to ongoing drought conditions a suitable storm event did not occur until early January. The production release of brood year 2020 LFCS occurred on 4 & 5 January 2021 and was timed to coincide with a storm event (Table 8).

Three additional ‘spring surrogate’ releases of LFCS also occurred during the month of January.

Spring surrogate releases are used to estimate the take of ESA-listed spring Chinook salmon at fish salvage facilities associated with State and Federal water export conveyances.

Table 8. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2020 number released, location, fish/lb, and total weight by date and cwt

Date CWT Total

Released Release Location

Total Weight

(lbs) 1/4/2021 056350 62,954 Battle Creek 10.7 5,939 1/4/2021 056351 74,506 Battle Creek 11.0 6,835 1/4/2021 056352 67,162 Battle Creek 11.7 5,740 1/4/2021 056353 67,472 Battle Creek 12.5 5,398 1/4/2021 056354 58,821 Battle Creek 12.3 4,782 1/4/2021 056355 57,542 Battle Creek 12.0 4,795 1/4/2021 056356 52,656 Battle Creek 11.6 4,539 1/4/2021 056357 52,554 Battle Creek 11.6 4,546 1/5/2021 056347 67,930 Battle Creek 10.8 6,290 1/5/2021 056348 67,007 Battle Creek 9.1 7,404 1/5/2021 056349 57,099 Battle Creek 10.4 5,490 1/8/2021 056359 66,912 Battle Creek 9.3 7,198 1/22/2021 056360 61,351 Battle Creek 11.1 5,527 1/29/2021 056358 64,805 Battle Creek 11.5 5,635 Total/Avg. 878,771 11.0 80,118

Late Fall Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2021 (CSA-LBW-21-COL)

Broodstock Collection and Spawning The Fish Ladder was opened intermittently between FCS broodstock collection and the beginning of LFCS spawning to allow for passage of natural-origin LFCS, natural-origin STT, and WCS.

The first take of LFCS occurred on 22 December 2020. Spawning continued, and spawning targets were reached despite low numbers of broodstock returning. The last take (11) occurred on 2 March 2021, a total of 642 crosses were made (Table 9) and 1,827 LFCS were handled throughout the spawning season (Table 10).

LFCS spawning is managed as an integrated program; typically, natural-origin broodstock are collected weekly from the Keswick Dam Fish Trap and included in spawning crosses. The Keswick Dam Fish Trap was unavailable for use during LFCS spawning as the trap was undergoing inspection and maintenance; therefore, natural-broodstock from the Keswick Trap were not available for spawning during the BY21 run year. A single natural-origin male LFCS that returned to Coleman NFH was accidently euthanized on 22 December 2020 (Take 1) during sorting and was crossed with a hatchery-origin female.

Table 9. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2021 numbers of hatchery-origin and natural-origin, male, female, and jack broodstock spawned at Coleman NFH by date and take

Hatchery-Origin Natural-Origin Male Male

Date Take Female Adult Jack Female Adult Jack Total 12/22/2020 1 14 13 0 0 1 0 28 12/29/2020 2 25 23 2 0 0 0 50 1/5/2021 3 105 99 6 0 0 0 210 1/12/2021 4 109 106 3 0 0 0 218 1/19/2021 5 132 132 0 0 0 0 264 1/26/2021 6 65 63 2 0 0 0 130 2/2/2021 7 115 114 1 0 0 0 230 2/9/2021 8 46 39 7 0 0 0 92 2/18/2021 9 29 28 1 0 0 0 58 2/23/2021 10 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 3/2/2021 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 642 619 22 0 1 0 1,284

Table 10. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2021 disposition and number of fish handled at Coleman NFH

Disposition Female Male Jack Total Spawned 642 620 22 1,284 Excessed 191 35 7 233

DIPS 130 90 75 295

Passed Upstream 7 6 2 15

Total 970 751 106 1,827

Incubation An estimated 3,233,461 green eggs were harvested over the course of the LFCS spawning season.

Each year the spawning plan is designed to harvest more eggs than are needed to meet production goals in order to hedge against an early diminishing run of fish and, or poor survival of earlier egg takes. Excess eggs are later reduced if sufficient eggs are obtained in later takes to achieve production goals. A total of 1,314,024 eyed eggs were retained for production purposes. Overall survival to the eyed egg stage was 86.7% (Table 11).

Table 11. Late fall Chinook salmon brood year 2021 numbers of hatchery-origin green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take

Date Spawned Take

Green Eggs

Eyed Eggs

Post- Reduction Eyed Eggs

Eggs per

Female

Eggs per oz

Percent Survival to Eyed

Egg Stage 12/22/2020 1 80,083 74,857 74,857 5,720 70.6 93.5 12/29/2020 2 126,752 108,858 108,858 5,070 74.6 85.9 1/5/2021 3 498,993 455,896 188,000 4,752 82.6 91.4 1/12/2021 4 546,992 460,767 188,000 5,018 79.5 84.2 1/19/2021 5 621,134 531,696 282,000 4,706 79.5 85.6 1/26/2021 6 347,952 285,088 94,000 5,353 78.6 81.9 2/2/2021 7 567,380 495,588 190,000 4,934 75.6 87.3 2/9/2021 8 262,546 233,162 94,000 5,708 735 88.8 2/18/2021 9 172,591 151,856 88,000 5,951 75.4 88.0 2/23/2021 10 9,038 6,309 6,309 4,519 85.3 69.8

Total/Avg. 3,233,461 2,804,077 1,314,024 5,037 77.5 86.7

Juvenile Rearing The first take of LFCS was ponded in the 8x80ft raceways on 21 March 2021, subsequent takes followed as they reached the “button-up” fry stage; the last take (10) was ponded on 30 April 2021.

In-pond screens were used to maintain a desired minimum density of fish to promote uniform feeding.

Typically, LFCS are vaccinated against enteric red mouth disease (Yersinia ruckeri) as they reach a minimum size of 250 fish/lb; however, this year as part of a trial, only half of the raceways received the enteric redmouth vaccine, whereas the other half were scheduled to receive 2 consecutive vaccinations for columnaris (Flavobacterium columnare) at 150 fish/lb, and again at 100 fish/lb. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy of the columnaris vaccine at reducing mortality from columnaris in juvenile LFCS.

In the past, LFCS have been pumped from the 8x80ft raceways into the tagging trailer and discharged into the 15x150ft raceways. This year, fish were marked and tagged into empty adjacent 8x80ft raceways. Rearing the LFCS in the 8x80ft raceways longer was an attempt to grow these fish more rapidly to meet size thresholds required for the columnaris vaccine trial. Crowding fish and administering the vaccine is also more easily accomplished in the smaller raceways.

Coded wire tagging and marking of late fall Chinook salmon commenced on 11 May 2021. After the first 3 raceways were marked, the remaining fish were deemed too small to continue and therefore tagging and marking was paused from 14-24 May 2021. Tagging had to be paused several more times during June due to extremely warm water temperatures. Tagging of the last raceway was completed on 25 June 2021. The tagging census number was found to be 42,470 fewer fish (~3.8%) than the hatchery inventory projected. This difference represents the mortality between egg inventory and ponding (after-hatch loss) which would be very difficult to enumerate independently.

Despite the more rapid growth of the LFCS in the 8x80ft raceways, warm water temperatures in June also led to an early cessation of the columnaris vaccine trial; 7 raceways received the enteric red mouth vaccine (control), 4 raceways received 2 vaccinations for columnaris, and 3 raceways received only a single vaccination for columnaris. LFCS were pumped from the 8x80ft raceways to the 15x150ft raceways using the 4 inch fish pump, flex hose, and a roll of 4 inch hose. The first 12 raceways were moved over the course of 3 days the week of 14 June 2021. The remaining 2 raceways were moved on 25 June 2021 when tagging was completed.

Starting in early June, columnaris and Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich) led to elevated rates of LFCS mortality. Despite repeated oxytetracycline (OTC), chloramine-T (CHL-T) and salt treatments (Table 12), high levels of mortality continued to occur throughout the summer. There did not appear to be a noticeable difference in mortality between groups of fish that received the experimental columnaris vaccine and controls. By the end of the fiscal year, temperatures had become more suitable, and rates of mortality had decreased to acceptable levels.

Table 12. Summary by date of brood year 2021 late fall chinook salmon treatments, dosage, and rearing units/groups treated

Dates Treatment Dosage Rearing Units/ Group Treated

6/5/2021-6/18/2021 OTC 10g/100lbs RW 29 6/9/2021-6/18/2021 OTC 3.75g/100lbs RW’s 31, 33-39 6/9/2021-6/11/2021 CHL-T 20mg/L RW’s 31, 33-39 6/10/2021-6/12/2021 CHL-T 20mg/L RW 43 6/24/2021-6/26/2021 CHL-T 20mg/L RW’s 9-11 6/24/2021-7/3/2021 OTC 3.75g/100lbs RW’s 9-11 6/30/2021-7/9/2021 OTC 3.75g/100lbs RW’s 1-8 & 12-14 7/1/2021-7/7/2021 Salt 1000ppm RW’s 1-14 7/8/2021-7/10/2021 CHL-T 20mg/L RW’s 1-14 7/10/2021-7/19/2021 OTC 3.75g/100lbs RW’s 1-14 8/5/2021-8/18/2021 OTC 10g/100lbs RW 4

At the end of the fiscal year there were 1,039,639 LFCS on station with a mean size of 24.0 fish/lb (Table 13).

Table 13. Summary by month of number brood year 2021 juvenile late fall Chinook salmon in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

Month

Number In

Tanks/ Raceways Mortality

Mean Feed

(in)

Density Index

(DI)

Feed Conversion

(FCR)

March 371,212 503 1160.3 1.4 0.08 0.75 26 April 1,295,313 18,982 572.8 1.9 0.15 0.60 1,105 May 1,173,064 9,985 125.7 2.9 0.18 0.70 4,733 June 1,111,254 32,037 86.6 3.3 0.05 1.18 4,410 July 1,049,003 62,251 55.3 3.8 0.07 0.81 5,575

August 1,043,107 5,896 36.9 4.4 0.09 0.99 8,567 September 1,039,639 3,468 24.0 5.0 0.12 1.26 11,072

Steelhead Brood Year 2020 (CVS-WBW-20-COL)

Juvenile Rearing Brood year 2020 juvenile steelhead (STT) converted feed at good rates until December when water cooled and slowed growth rates (mean FCR 2.17). There were no fish health issues with the STT from the beginning of the fiscal year through release and rates of mortality were low (Table 14).

Table 14. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 juvenile steelhead in raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

Month

Number In

Raceways Mortality

Mean Feed

(in)

Density Index

(DI)

Feed Conversion

(FCR)

October 633,246 305 7.4 7.4 0.15 0.91 21,580

November 632,862 140 4.8 8.5 0.20 0.63 28,615 December1 632,731 106 4.5 8.7 0.21 2.17 15,645

1. Size at release

Release Table 15. Steelhead brood year 2020 number released, location, fish/lb, and total weight by date and raceway

Date Total

Released Raceway Release Location (Fish/lb)

Total Weight

(lbs) 12/11/2020 45,227 28

Red Bluff Diversion

Dam

4.3 10,518 12/11/2020 49,827 27 4.3 11,588 12/11/2020 45,099 26 4.9 9,204 12/12/2020 47,399 25 4.8 9,875 12/12/2020 45,344 24 5.1 8,891 12/12/2020 42,912 23 4.7 9,130 12/16/2020 47,667 22 4.3 11,085 12/16/2020 46,771 21 4.7 9,951 12/16/2020 46,004 20 4.5 10,223 12/28/2020 50,727 19 4.1 12,372 12/28/2020 42,085 18 4.2 10,020 12/29/2020 41,901 17 4.2 9,976 12/29/2020 40,351 16 4.5 8,967 12/29/2020 41,437 15 4.2 8,866

Total/Average 632,751 4.5 140,666

Typically, juvenile STT are released the first week in January or earlier in December if good environmental conditions occur (i.e., a storm event with increased flow and high turbidity). This year, STT needed to be released in December despite poor environmental conditions to make space for FCS to be ponded in the 15x150ft raceways. Typically LFCS would be released prior to STT to allow for ponding of FCS; however, it was decided that STT would likely fair better in the poor in-river conditions than the LFCS and thus they were released first.

The release site was also moved to the Sycamore Grove boat ramp (Red Bluff, Ca), due to the low river flows and unsuitable condition of the Bend Boat Ramp (Bend, Ca). There were three separate production releases of STT during the month of December. The first release occurred from 11-12 December 2020, the second release occurred on 16 December 2020, and the third release occurred from 28-29 December 2020. STT were crowded to the front of each raceway and loaded onto distribution trucks using a fish pump and dewatering tower. A total of 632,731 juvenile STT were released into the Sacramento River at the Sycamore Grove Boat Ramp in December (Table 15).

Steelhead Brood Year 2021 (CVS-WBW-21-COL)

Broodstock Collection and Spawning Steelhead broodstock collection began in early-October with relatively few fish being collected until numbers started to increase somewhat when the ladder was re-opened in late-December. Early returning steelhead broodstock (October through mid-December) and late returning steelhead (Late- December through February) are typically held separately in Ponds 5 and 4 respectively. Separation of these STT allows for targeted spawning of either group with the goal of incorporating a relatively equal number of both early and late returning STT into the spawning plan. For the third consecutive year, due to low numbers of returning fall Chinook salmon, Ponds 4 and 5 were used for holding non-ripe fall Chinook salmon that would typically be euthanized without spawning (excessed); consequently, steelhead broodstock that returned during fall Chinook spawning were transferred to the Pre-Release Pond instead of Pond 5. Transferring steelhead to the prerelease pond also allows for better feeding of broodstock and enumeration and removal of pre-spawn mortalities.

In mid-December, the Pre-Release Pond was seined, and all of the surviving 449 early-returning steelhead were transferred to Pond 5. A total of 2,002 late-returning steelhead were collected and transferred to Pond 4 during LFCS sorting and spawning. The first steelhead egg take occurred on 23 December 2020 and consisted of 29 pairs of fish (Table 16). Steelhead are classified as shorts or longs based upon their fork-length. Shorts have lengths that are greater than 16in and less than 21.75in; longs are fish greater than or equal to 21.75in. The ratio of short to long broodstock was approximately 1:1.

The last take occurred on 23 February 2021, a total of 553 pairs of steelhead were spawned throughout the spawning season.

Table 16. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of female and male, short, and long broodstock spawned at Coleman NFH by date and take

Date Take

Hatchery-Origin

Total Female Male

Short Long Short Long 12/23/2020 1 0 29 9 20 58 12/29/2020 2 8 24 12 20 64 1/7/2021 3 20 39 40 19 118 1/14/2021 4 25 82 62 45 214 1/21/2021 5 22 52 48 26 148 1/28/2021 6 26 34 37 23 120 2/4/2021 7 17 48 41 24 130 2/11/2021 8 12 23 27 8 70 2/18/2021 9 14 24 31 7 76 2/23/2021 10 30 24 46 8 108

Total 174 379 353 200 1,106

Broodstock Reconditioning The STT kelt release occurred on 1 March 2021, water was lowered in the Pre-release Pond and a seine net was used release fish through the wastewater canal into Battle Creek. Two staff members independently attempted to enumerate fish as they transited the canal. The two counts were: 1,028 and 1,054.

Incubation At inventory there were an estimated 278,217 eyed eggs from crosses of short females and 932,967 eyed eggs from long females (Tables 17 & 18). In order to increase the genetic diversity of hatchery-origin STT, the spawning plan incorporates twice as many broodstock as is needed to meet egg-take goals. Eyed eggs from short and long crosses were proportional to the ratio at which they were collected. A total of 687,458 eyed eggs were and retained for production (Table 19).

Table 17. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take from short females

Date Spawned Take

Green Eggs

Eyed Eggs

Post- Reduction Eyed Eggs

Eggs per

Female

Eggs per oz

Percent Survival to Eyed

Egg Stage

12/23/2020 1 0 0 0 NA NA NA

12/29/2020 2 13,189 11,031 8,958 1,649 239.8 83.6 1/7/2021 3 49,991 45,402 23,696 2,631 241.5 90.8 1/14/2021 4 58,655 45,531 26,731 2,346 267.8 77.6 1/21/2021 5 44,322 31,227 9,278 2,607 251.8 70.5 1/28/2021 6 69,915 52,658 31,900 2,797 221.3 75.3 2/4/2021 7 59,027 28,309 13,148 3,935 301.2 48.0 2/11/2021 8 37,456 24,206 12,185 3,121 254.8 64.6 2/18/2021 9 19,847 14,434 14,434 2,481 257.8 72.7 2/23/2021 10 39,284 25,419 25,419 3,274 288.9 64.7

Total/Avg. 391,686 278,217 165,749 2,778 258.3 71.0

Table 18. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, post-reduction eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage by date spawned and take from long females

Date Spawned Take

Green Eggs

Eyed Eggs

Post- Reduction Eyed Eggs

Eggs per

Female

Eggs per oz

Percent Survival to Eyed

Egg Stage 12/23/2020 1 130,887 92,964 48,163 4,513 216.7 71.0 12/29/2020 2 69,401 48,409 39,205 2,892 214.2 69.8 1/7/2021 3 162,104 138,097 72,630 4,381 220.3 85.2 1/14/2021 4 301,824 199,994 117,758 3,971 203.7 66.3 1/21/2021 5 172,563 130,881 38,885 4,930 208.4 75.8 1/28/2021 6 145,666 106,350 64,426 4,856 196.6 73.0 2/4/2021 7 135,116 75,242 35,015 4,359 199.6 55.7 2/11/2021 8 92,691 71,381 35,978 4,878 206.9 77.0 2/18/2021 9 59,024 44,476 44,476 3,279 207.8 75.4 2/23/2021 10 34,252 25,173 25,173 1,317 206.3 73.5

Total/Avg. 1,303,528 932,967 521,709 4,011 208.1 71.6

Table 19. Steelhead brood year 2021 numbers of green eggs, eyed eggs, eggs per female, eggs per ounce, and percent survival to the eyed egg stage from short and long females

Broodstock Origin

Green Eggs

Eyed Eggs

Post- Reduction

Eyed Eggs

Eggs per Female

Eggs per oz

Percent Survival to Eyed

Egg Stage Short 391,686 278,217 165,749 2,778 258.3 71.0 Long 1,303,528 932,967 521,709 4,011 208.1 71.6

Total/Avg 1,695,214 1,211,184 687,458 3,638 231.9 71.4

Juvenile Rearing The first take of STT was transferred from the incubation stacks to the early-rearing tanks on 24 February 2021, tanking of STT continued until the last take was tanked on 14 April 2021. Fish were started on a high percent body weight diet, and feed conversion rates (FCR) were very good (Table 20) while in tanks. Fish were closely monitored, and tanks were split as needed to maintain acceptable density indices.

During May several takes of STT had slightly elevated levels of mortality and were observed to be flashing. The CA/NV FHC diagnosed the symptomatic fish with Costia. Standing bath formalin treatments (110 mg/L) were used to control mortality and deemed successful (Table 21).

On May 19 2021, there was a power outage that affected the facility after normal working hours.

Many different pieces of equipment were affected including water delivery pumps. As a result, staff turned raw water (untreated gravity-fed surface water) on to the hatchery building. Juvenile STT (Takes 8-10) being reared inside received raw water for approximately 20 minutes until the treated water supply could be restored. On the morning of May 21 2021, at approximately 1040, it was discovered that the raw water valve had remained in the open position even after treated water was restored. It was estimated that raw water was supplied to the STT tanks for over 40 hours. Hatchery staff and California/Nevada Fish Health Center staff closely monitored fish for signs of disease throughout the rest of the month.

Starting on 15 April 2021 STT were vaccinated for enteric redmouth disease, and transferred to the 8x80ft raceways when they reached a size of approximately 250 fish/lb. The last take was transferred to the 8x80ft raceways on 27 May 2021.

Marking of STT commenced on 4 May 2021. In addition to marking, the AutoFish System™ used by PFMFC provides an accurate count of fish populations in each raceway processed. Marking was completed on 9 June 2021 and the final difference between the hatchery inventory number and the census taken from the marking trailer was -16,184 fish (~ 2.6 %). This difference represents the mortality between egg inventory and ponding (after-hatch loss) which would be very difficult to enumerate independently. STT were pumped from the 8x80ft raceways to the 15x150ft raceways on 15 & 16 June 2021.

In early June all STT raceways were diagnosed with columnaris infection. On 5 June 2021, a 14 day OTC treatment was started on all STT raceways that had already been marked (Table 21). The treatment was paused for a day when fish were pumped from the 8x80ft raceways to the 15x150ft raceways. Raceway 45 (Take 9) was experiencing elevated mortality due to columnaris infection and was given a 3 day Chloramine-T treatment prior to marking (Table 21). All treatment were successful at temporarily decreasing rates of mortality; however, columnaris infections continued throughout the summer rearing period and all raceways were given a 14 day treatment from 18 August – 1 September 2021 (Table 21). Further treatments were not needed to control columnaris.

Table 20. Summary by month of numbers of brood year 2021 juvenile steelhead in tanks and raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

Month

Number In Tanks/ Raceways Mortality

Mean Feed

(in)

Density Index

(DI)

Feed Conversion

(FCR)

February 47,553 610 2,906.8 1.0 0.18 - 2 March 485,734 5,278 1,453.9 1.4 0.22 0.53 1,601 April 690,253 14,710 403.4 2.2 0.19 0.63 1,408 May 655,390 2,061 88.8 3.3 0.13 0.64 3,531 June 628,672 16,694 55.4 3.8 0.04 1.40 5,121 July 619,222 9,450 29.1 4.7 0.06 0.96 9,594

August 611,829 7,393 17.3 5.6 0.09 0.88 11,874 September 611,189 640 9.6 6.7 0.13 0.65 17,491

Table 21. Summary by date of brood year 2021 steelhead treatments, dosage, and rearing units/groups treated

Dates Treatment Dosage Rearing Units/ Group Treated

4/13/2021-4/14/2021 Formalin 110ppm Tanks 1-8 4/24/2021-4/25/2021 Formalin 110ppm Tanks 17-28

5/13/2021 Formalin 110ppm Tanks 36-39 6/5/2021-6/18/2021 OTC 10g/100lbs RWs 15-25 6/7/2021-6/9/2021 CHL-T 20mg/L RW 45 8/18/2021-9/1/2021 OTC 10g/100lbs RW’s 15-28

Winter Chinook Salmon Brood Year 2020 (WCS-WBD-20-LIV)

Egg and Fry Transfers (To Coleman NFH and Mount Lassen Trout Farm) Spawning of winter Chinook salmon (WCS) for the Battle Creek Reintroduction Program at Livingston Stone NFH concluded in September 2020 (Fiscal year 2020). Brood year 2020 is composed of both progeny of captive broodstock, and for the first time anadromous broodstock returning to Battle Creek (2 year-old male ‘jack’ salmon from Battle Creek and cryopreserved milt from WCS collected at the Keswick Dam Fish Trap have been used in previous years). Captive broodstock and anadromous broodstock were spawned separately and were not combined within takes or lots.

A portion of the captive broodstock progeny were transferred to Mount Lassen Trout Farm (MLTF) on the North Fork of Battle Creek. MLTF was selected as a provisional rearing facility to aid in the reintroduction of WCS to Battle Creek. On 1 September 2020 the first group of eyed eggs (Take 14) were transferred to MLTF (Table 22). On 7 October 2020, the second group of eyed eggs (Take 15) was transferred from Livingston Stone NFH to MLTF. Eggs were loaded into laundry bags and hauled in a tank mounted on a pickup truck.

On 14 October 2020, 3 trucks equipped with fish tanks were used to transport Takes 1-12 to Coleman NFH. Later, button-up fry from takes 13 and 14a were transferred to Coleman NFH on 21 & 28 October 2020 respectively.

Table 22. Lot, take, date spawned, numbers of eyed eggs, life stage at transfer, number transferred, transfer dates, and rearing facility for progeny of winter Chinook captive brood stock spawned at the Livingston Stone NFH and transferred to the Coleman NFH and Mount Lassen Trout Farm

Lot Take Date Spawned

Eyed Eggs

Life Stage

At Transfer

Number Transferred

Date Transferred

Rearing Facility

1 5/18/2020 2,853

Fed-fry 55,977 10/14/2020 CNFH 2 6/3/2020 5,383 3 6/10/2020 6,030 4 6/17/2020 22,052 5a 6/24/2020 23,553

5b 6/24/2020 16,527

Fed-fry 86,442 10/14/2020 CNFH

6 7/1/2020 20,571 7 7/2/2020 31,908 8 7/8/2020 16,236 9 7/15/2020 4,391 10 7/20/2020 5,818

11 8/4/2020 2,381 Fed-Fry

41,669

10/14/2020

CNFH 12 8/12/2020 16,974 Fry 10/14/2020 13 8/18/2020 15,847 Fry 10/21/2020 14a 8/25/2020 17,181 Fry 10/28/2020

4 14b 8/25/2020 15,140 Eyed Eggs

15,140 9/29/2020 MLTF 15 9/1/2020 39,660 39,660 10/7/2020

Totals 257,425 238,888

Juvenile Rearing (Coleman NFH) The WCS fry were fed BioOregon BioVita Fish Feed (High Energy Diet). Growth was manipulated by feed rate to combine the 14 takes into 3 lots that each received a unique CWT.

Takes 2-10 were started in the 8x 80ft raceways, and Takes 1, 13, and 14 were started in early-rearing tanks inside the incubation building. On 28 October 2020, Take 1 was combined with Takes 2-5a in Raceway 43 to form Lot 1. On 13 November 2020, fish in Raceways 39 & 40 (Takes 5b-10) were moved and consolidated in Raceway 41 to form Lot 2.

WCS fry are marked at a 100% rate with an adipose and left-pelvic fin clip so that upon return to Coleman NFH, adults can be differentiated from LFCS. During December, the first 2 lots of WCS tagged and marked. On 5 February 2001, fin clipping and CWT tagging of Lot 3 was completed.

Table 23. Summary by month of number brood year 2020 winter Chinook salmon reared at Coleman National Fish Hatchery in tanks and raceways, total mortality, mean weight, length, DI, FCR and total pounds of feed fed

Month

Number In Tanks/ Raceways Mortality

Mean Feed

(in)

Density Index

(DI)

Feed Conversion

(FCR)

October 183,410 1,798 849.4 1.8 0.20 0.71 185.9

November 182,099 645 343.6 2.2 0.20 0.84 451.8 December 173,220 671 193.3 2.6 0.24 1.08 500.7 January 172,346 874 125.7 2.9 0.25 1.49 716.7 February 116,727 713 80.1 3.4 0.23 0.73 311 March1 0 66 65.8 3.6 - - 207

1. Size at release

Juvenile Rearing (Mount Lassen Trout Farm) Eggs were incubated in hatching baskets contained within early-rearing tanks. Fry reared in the tanks after hatching and were later moved to a larger concrete raceway. Marking (adipose and left-pelvic fin clipping) and tagging (CWT) of WCS at Mt. Lassen Trout Farms (MLTF) was accomplished during February 2021. Renovations and repairs were made to the manual tagging trailer and a generator was utilized to power the tagging trailer at MLTF.

Release (Coleman NFH and Mount Lassen Trout Farm) Lot 1 was released…