The Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program: Recovery in Progress

It became very clear in 2000 that the extinction of coho salmon in the Northern California Russian River watershed was inevitable without immediate intervention.  In response to the drastic decline of the species, a multi-agency collaboration initiated the Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program in 2001.  The goal of the program is not only to prevent local extirpation, but to restore self-sustaining populations of coho to tributaries throughout the basin.  From 2001 to 2003, some of the last remaining wild Russian River coho were collected and transported to Warm Springs Hatchery in Geyserville, CA to be used as captive broodstock.  Broodstock are reared their entire lives in fresh water and are spawned according to a breeding matrix.  The off-spring are then released into streams throughout the watershed that historically supported wild runs of coho.  Since its inception, the program has completed eight spawning cycles and released over 650,000 juvenile coho throughout the watershed.  However, with a limited number of founding individuals used for the broodstock population and the continued low number of adult returns, the program has been forced to adapt over the years.  In response to these challenges, an out-breeding component has been included with the goal of increasing genetic diversity.  Smolt and adult releases have also been added to the program in an attempt to increase the number of spawners.  Now, ten years into the program, the first signs of success are beginning to take place.