FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 79, NO. 3 



Table 5. — Estimates of sport catch of spring chinook salmon 

 at the confluence of the Wind and Columbia Rivers, 29 March- 

 1 June 1966. 



Table 6. — Recovery data for marked spring chinook salmon 

 of the 1971 brood from Carson National Fish Hatchery, 1973-76. 



' Not sampled. 



In late March and early April 1972, 142,000 

 dorsal-right ventral marked 1970 brood Wind 

 River spring chinook salmon juveniles were re- 

 leased at Carson Hatchery. From November 1971 

 to march 1972, 161,000 1970 brood juveniles bear- 

 ing the same mark were released at two other 

 hatcheries on nearby Klickitat and Little White 

 Salmon Rivers. These releases were part of a 

 Columbia River Fishery Development Program- 

 funded marking and mark sampling program 

 involving all spring chinook salmon rearing facil- 

 ities in the Columbia River Basin. During 1972 

 and 1973, marks were sampled only at Washing- 

 ton, Oregon, and California ports. Beginning in 

 1974, the sampling program covered all significant 



Pacific coast marine and Columbia River recre- 

 ational and commercial chinook salmon ports of 

 landing from Pelican, Alaska, to Monterey, Calif. 

 Sampling a total of 140 Wind-Klickitat-Little 

 White Salmon-River marks, recoveries included 

 Alaska 4, British Columbia 6, Washington 27, and 

 California 5. Seventy-two marks were recovered 

 in the main-stem Columbia River sport fishery 

 and 26 in the main-stem Columbia River gill net 

 commercial fishery. 



In late March and early April 1973, about 

 142,000 1971 brood spring chinook salmon juve- 

 niles (average length 5y2 in) bearing a distinctive 

 adipose-right ventral mark were released from 

 Carson Hatchery into Wind River. Table 6 con- 

 tains 1973-76 mark recoveries in marine and 

 Columbia River fisheries. 



Wind River Spring Chinook 

 Salmon Transfers 



As a result of the Wind River spring chinook 

 salmon introduction program, Carson National 

 Fish Hatchery has become an important source 

 of spring chinook salmon for transplantation to 

 diverse areas within and outside the Columbia 

 River Basin. About 46.5 million eggs and 3.5 

 million juveniles from adult returns to the hatch- 

 ery were transferred to other areas during 1960-79 

 (Table 7). 



These transfers contributed to the establish- 

 ment of several spring chinook salmon runs, 

 including hatchery runs to Leavenworth National 

 Fish Hatchery on Washington's Icicle River, a 

 tributary of the Wenatchee River, and to the Little 

 White Salmon National Fish Hatchery on Wash- 

 ington's Little White Salmon River; naturally 

 spawning runs were created in Fall Creek, tribu- 

 tary to Oregon's Willamette River, and in the 

 Selway River, tributary to the Clearwater River 

 in Idaho. 



SUMMARY 



In 1955, a 9-yr program was initiated to intro- 

 duce nonindigenous spring chinook salmon into 

 Wind River, a southwestern Washington tribu- 

 tary of the Columbia River. A fishway was con- 

 structed to provide chinook salmon passage over 

 a heretofore impassable falls located at Wind 

 River mile 3.7. During 1955-63, 4,239 adult spring 

 chinook salmon were trapped from the hetero- 

 genous population passing over Bonneville Dam 



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