The Idaho Department of Fish and Game this week released its draft plan for reviving flagging populations of white sturgeon, a popular game fish found in the Snake River.
The agency will accept public comments until Sept. 15 on its “Draft Management Plan for Conservation of Snake River White Sturgeon in Idaho.” The draft is available for public review and comment at fishandgame.idaho.gov.
The draft Fish and Game management plan considers only white sturgeon found in the Snake River in Idaho—not the population in the Kootenai River of northern Idaho. Snake River white sturgeon have declined in abundance due to a variety of factors, including overharvest, dam construction, water management and water pollution, according to the agency.
White sturgeon are the largest freshwater game fish in North America, historically reaching lengths of more than 15 feet and weights of more than 1,000 pounds. They can live to be 100 years old.
The management plan describes actions that could increase the range and population abundance of white sturgeon in the Snake River. The IDFG will work with other agencies and stakeholders to accomplish actions identified in the plan.
The objectives of the management plan include providing for coordinated management of white sturgeon in the Snake River, providing for an orderly and sustainable no harvest recreational fishery, facilitating data collection for stock assessments, integrating and defining the role of artificial propagation, increasing public awareness through information and education, and obtaining public acceptance and compliance for the plan.
In Idaho, the historical distribution of white sturgeon included the Snake River upstream to Shoshone Falls, a 213-foot natural barrier to migration. Sturgeon were found in the Salmon River as far upstream as McKim Creek, and in the Kootenai River drainage in northern Idaho. In 1994, white sturgeon inhabiting the Kootenai River were listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the Endangered Species Act. Management and recovery of the Kootenai stock is directed under a separate document.
White sturgeon are now segmented into nine reaches of the Snake River including the Hells Canyon complex. Of the nine reaches, only two support viable populations characterized by self-sustaining natural recruitment. These reaches are Bliss Dam to C.J. Strike Reservoir and Hells Canyon Dam to Lower Granite Reservoir along the Idaho-Oregon border. Reaches other than these two show little or no detectable reproduction.
The draft says there is a high demand for white sturgeon angling opportunity, particularly in three reaches: 1) below Bliss Dam, 2) below Hells Canyon Dam, and 3) immediately below C.J. Strike Dam. The altered habitat and low population productivity in the Snake River means it is unlikely that any sustainable harvest opportunity on wild fish can be provided in the foreseeable future, according to the plan.
Because the various Snake River reaches have a range of characteristics and are essentially isolated from one another, the management plan addresses white sturgeon on a reach by reach basis. Within the native distribution of white sturgeon, population and recreational fishery objectives are developed for each reach based on the physical habitat and flow conditions and the current status of the population and fishery.
The management plan also addresses expansion of white sturgeon into new waters outside their historical distribution to provide unique recreational opportunities.
In Idaho, the IDFG is the lead agency responsible for white sturgeon management, but will work with other state and federal agencies and other entities to implement management actions.
Idaho Power Company is an electric utility that owns and operates a number of hydroelectric facilities in southern Idaho, including on the mainstem Snake River. As a result of relicensing the Middle Snake River projects (Shoshone Falls, Upper Salmon Falls, Lower Salmon Falls, Bliss) and the C.J. Strike Project, IPC is responsible for implementing a number of protection, mitigation, and enhancement activities to benefit white sturgeon in the Snake River.
The Nez Perce Tribe, as per treaty rights, conducts research on white sturgeon populations in the Hells Canyon-Lower Granite reach of the Snake River and participates in a tribal harvest fishery in the same area.
The IDFG proposes three separate categories of white sturgeon populations in the Snake River based on those defined by a multi-state position document on genetic considerations concerning cutthroat trout management produced by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in 2000. The categories include:
- White Sturgeon Core Conservation Populations, which are defined as self-sustaining populations that support sport fisheries and have regular natural recruitment and all age/size classes represented. Core conservation populations have adequate flow regime, water quality, and physical habitat characteristics to meet all life history requirements in most years. IDFG management emphasis will be on protecting and enhancing habitat and water quality to promote sustainability by natural recruitment, and on protecting the genetic integrity and diversity of the population. Sport fishing for white sturgeon will continue under the current catch-and-release regulation and angling-related mortality will be assessed. Conservation enforcement efforts will focus on these reaches to minimize illegal harvest.
- White Sturgeon Conservation Populations are reaches with existing white sturgeon populations and sport fisheries but with infrequent or no natural recruitment and unbalanced age/size structure. These reaches may receive recruitment from downstream drift or may have received hatchery supplementation in the past, but lack the flow, water quality, and/or physical habitat characteristics to meet all life history requirements in most years. IDFG management emphasis will be on protecting and enhancing habitat and water quality. Supplementation with hatchery fish or translocated wild fish may be used to rebuild spawning populations or enhance angling opportunity. Sport fishing for white sturgeon will continue under the current catch-and-release regulation and angling-related mortality will be assessed.
- White Sturgeon Sportfish Populations are suitable large river waters outside the historical distribution where white sturgeon can provide or have provided diversity to existing fisheries. These river reaches are expected to lack the flow regime, water quality, and physical habitat characteristics to meet all life history requirements, and angling opportunity would be supported by the periodic stocking of hatchery-reared Snake River white sturgeon. Sport fishing for white sturgeon would be under the current catch-and-release regulation although a limited harvest fishery may be an option in the future.
Fish and Game expects to conduct public open house meetings on the plan at Fish and Game regional offices in Jerome, Nampa and Lewiston. Comments will be accepted until Sept. 5.
For information contact Scott Grunder, native species coordinator, at 208-287-2774.
