Shasta Dam Fish Passage Evaluation Winter-Run Chinook Salmon Source Population

Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon are Federal and State endangered, and with this latest long drought, are on the brink of extinction. NMFS released a jeopardy BO as well as a Recovery Plan that established recommendations for passage into the upper watershed to establish additional viable populations. At the request of Reclamation, NMFS proposes to authorize establishment of an experimental population of winter-run Chinook salmon in the McCloud and Upper Sacramento rivers above Shasta Dam, initially using hatchery-origin Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon from the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery (LSNFH).  These Chinook are presumed to be a close genetic match to the extirpated population that historically inhabited these rivers.

The LSNFH was funded and constructed by Reclamation and is operated by the USFWS.  The LSNFH is intended to supplement natural production and assist in the recovery of winter-run Chinook. Beginning in 2010, only natural-origin winter-run Chinook salmon were used as broodstock in an effort to further reduce the effects of domestication. In 2015, a captive broodstock program for winter-run Chinook was reinitiated at the LSNFH. A limited number of eggs and juveniles are anticipated for the Shasta Fish Passage Evaluation starting in 2017.