At the Council's December 2008 request, the ISRP reviewed the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation's (Colville Tribes) Cassimer Bar Hatchery Master Plan, Project #200721200. This is a Step One review in the Councils Three Step Review Process.
The ISRP finds that, at this time, the Cassimer Bar Hatchery Master Plan does not meet scientific review criteria for the Step-One review process. Based on information presented in the Step-One Master Plan, and information the ISRP obtained from the Upper Columbia Spring Chinook and Steelhead Recovery Plan and Hatchery Scientific Review Group Report, the Okanogan River summer steelhead population is not currently self-sustaining primarily because of limited habitat and capacity for overall productivity. For this reason, an integrated artificial production program is not reasonably likely to produce the desired and expected outcomes integrated programs require a self-sustaining natural population. Consequently the Master Plan is not scientifically defensible because the goals cannot be achieved due to inadequate habitat capacity in the subbasin.
Generally, the Master Plan needs to be revised and submitted again for Step-One review. The revised plan needs to address data deficiencies and include further research and analysis. Moreover, the conservation and harvest objectives initiated in the Cassimer Bar Hatchery Master Plan need to be based on the existing and anticipated future environmental conditions in the subbasin to be scientifically defensible. The ISRP recommends developing a plan using rationale similar to that used by this same group for summer/fall Chinook and the Chief Joe Hatchery Master Plan, currently in review.
This report lists specific information that the ISRP recommends a revised master plan should contain.
