Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

RECENT ADAPTATIONS OF THE KOOTENAI RIVER NATIVE FISH CONSERVATION AQUACULTURE PROGRAM TO RESTORE WHITE STURGEON AND BURBOT

Shawn P. Young

 

Kootenai Tribe of Idaho

242 Hatchery Road

Bonners Ferry, ID

young@kootenai.org

 



 The Kootenai River White Sturgeon  Acipenser transmontanus  and Burbot  Lota lota maculosa were once abundant in the Kootenai/ay River Basin in Idaho and Montana, USA, and British Columbia, Canada.   Kootenai White S turgeon remain listed as endangered in both countries , and  Burbot  natural recruitment remains very low despite recent succes ses meeting interim goals of warding of extinction / extirpation by filling recruitment gaps and re-building population structures via conservation aquaculture, and ecological restoration actions.   The  Kootenai Tribe of Idaho’s (KTOI) K ootenai R iver N ative F ish C onservation A quaculture Program (KRNFCAP) goals are, avoid extirpation and rebuild abundance to jump-start natural recruitment, and support cultural and recreational harvest.  Beyond rebuilding abundance, the conservation hatcheries a lso  1) spawn, rear, and release fish in a manner that supports monitoring, research, and evaluations of post-release performance of hatchery White Sturgeon and Burbot; and 2) release early life stages across habitat types/conditions  in a manner that allows long-term evaluation of recruitment failure, and habitat restoration outcomes .  By doing so, conservation aquaculture is an integral part of a large multi-strategy ecosystem restoration RM&E effort. The pr esentation will provide a  summary of  recent program adaptations implemented in response to  recent RM&E results concerning the current status of the focal species and to the current ecological state of the Kootenai Basin.