Topic: Adaptation Planning, Fish & Wildlife, Water | Region: Tribal Nations

Climate Impacts on Tribal Fish Hatcheries

CIG is providing technical assistance to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission to support their work in understanding the impacts of climate change on tribal hatcheries and their operations.

  • Guillaume Mauger, UW Climate Impacts Group
  • Anne Thebo, UW Climate Impacts Group
  • Matt Rogers, UW Climate Impacts Group
  • Active
  • Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC)
  • Bureau of Indian Affairs

The Climate Impacts Group will support the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission through both planning support for meetings with hatchery managers and tribal representatives and a synthesis report summarizing existing science on impacts of concern for the NWIFC tribal hatcheries.

The purpose of this work is to support climate impacts assessment and adaptation planning for tribal fish hatcheries within the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC).


Photo credit: Nez Pearce Fishing, NOAA

Project Background

Tribal fish hatcheries are vulnerable to several impacts of climate change. In particular, changes in streamflow and water temperature are likely to impact both water availability for operations, as well as fish health and growth rates. Other climate change impacts may also be important, including sea level rise, wildfire, and extreme precipitation. This work builds on past work by CIG and others to assess impacts across all 24 NWIFC hatcheries.

Photo credit: Johnny Armstrong

The Approach

CIG’s work with the NWIFC consists of two primary activities: 1) Providing technical support for NWIFC’s meetings with hatchery managers and other tribal representatives. These meetings seek to understand the climate impacts hatcheries are experiencing and current strategies for managing these impacts; and 2) Developing a synthesis report summarizing existing science related to climate related impacts on hatchery infrastructure and operations.

Photo credit: Johnny Armstrong

Related Resources

Projected Changes in Streamflow and Water Temperature in Chico Creek, Kitsap County. The purpose of this study was to provide projections of future streamflows and water temperatures for use in assessing the impacts of climate change on salmonids in the Chico Creek Watershed.

Climate Change Impacts on Streamflow Extremes and Summertime Stream Temperature and their Possible
Consequences for Freshwater Salmon Habitat in Washington State. This study evaluates the sensitivity of Washington State’s freshwater habitat of Pacific Salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) to climate change.

Photo Credit: Kitsap County
Streamflow & Temp in Chico CreekImpacts on Streamflow Extremes