The Columbia River treaty tribes released today the most comprehensive restoration plan for Pacific lamprey in the Columbia Basin. Approved Friday by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission’s four member tribes, the Umatilla, Warm Springs, Yakama and Nez Perce, the Tribal Pacific Lamprey Restoration Plan looks to halt the decline of lamprey and reestablish lamprey populations through a wide range of mainstem and tributary actions throughout their lifecycle.

The plan seeks to improve mainstem and tributary passage for juvenile and adult lamprey, restore and protect mainstem and tributary habitat, reduce toxic contaminants, and consider an artificial propagation program to aid re-colonization throughout the basin.

“Time is not a luxury that lamprey have so we must act now,” said Paul Lumley, executive director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. “This plan represents the best of both situations. It allows the tribes to actively address the issues facing lamprey now and develop a better understanding of the issues. We can’t sit on our hands and study them into extinction.”

Appearing in the fossil record 450 million years ago, Pacific lamprey are the oldest fish in the Columbia River system. A significant subsistence and cultural resource for tribal communities, Pacific lamprey numbers have plummeted in recent years. Once retuning to the Columbia River and its tributaries by the millions, approximately 48,000 returned to Bonneville Dam in 2011. Lamprey returns were at an all-time low of 23,000 in 2010.

An important component to the Columbia Basin ecosystem, Pacific lamprey are significant prey for a number of other species, provide marine nutrients to tributary ecosystems and are often viewed as an indicator species for ecological challenges facing other species like salmon.

“Lamprey deserve every opportunity to thrive in the Columbia River system,” said Lumley. “Their survival depends on us. Now is the time for us to step up and provide for the ones that have always provided for us.”

The Tribal Pacific Lamprey Restoration Plan is available on the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission’s website at www.critfc.org/lamprey.