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Results for “Salmon Recovery Program Technical Report”

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3 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2017

2010-2015 Juvenile fish ecology in the Nisqually River Delta and Nisqually Reach Aquatic Reserve

The return of tidal inundation to over 750 acres of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge (NNWR) in fall of 2009 was the crowning moment in the effort to protect and restore the Nisqually Delta. The Nisqually NWR project complemented three earlier restoration projects completed by the Nisqually Indian Tribe (Tribe) on tribal property to restore over 900 acres of the estuary, representing the largest estuary restoration project in the Pacific Northwest and one of the most significant advances to date towards the recovery of Puget Sound (USFWS 2005). In 2011 the Washington Department of Natural Resources (WADNR established the over 14000 acre Nisqually Reach Aquatic Reserve (Reserve), complementing the protection and restoration successes in the Nisqually Delta. The Reserve includes all state-owned aquatic lands around Anderson, Ketron and Eagle islands and part of McNeil Island (Figure 1, WDNR 2011). The Reserve also includes a diverse assemblage of nearshore and offshore habitats important to resident and migratory fish including federal endangered species act listed fish like Chinook salmon (Oncorynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (O. mykiss). Studies in the Nisqually Estuary (Ellings and Hodgson 2007, David et al. 2014, Ellings et al. 2016) and South Puget Sound (Duffy 2003) have summarized fish use of the area. However, the fish ecology of the reserve had not been systematically surveyed. The Tribe, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), NNWR, Nisqually River Foundation (NRF), and others are currently conducting a multi-year, interdisciplinary, hypothesis-based research and monitoring study investigating the impact of delta restoration on estuarine processes, habitat structures, and functions. Our interdisciplinary monitoring framework enables us to link key estuarine processes with habitat development and biological response at multiple scales across the restored footprint, reference marshes, and throughout the Nisqually Reach. Key research components include hydrology and sediment regime, channel and marsh topography and development, vegetation colonization, and invertebrate, bird, and fish abundance, habitat use, and foraging ecology. After the Reserve was established, the WDNR and the research partnership led by the Tribe expanded the existing delta fish ecology assessment to include sampling stations throughout the Reserve. The results of the Reserve fish ecology assessment provide a unique regional analysis of fish ecology from the Nisqually River to McNeil Island.

Salmon Recovery Program Technical Report↗
USGS2022

Framework for the development of the Columbia River mainstem fish tissue and water quality monitoring program - Bonneville Dam to Canadian border

The Columbia River provides important cultural, economic, and ecological services to a significant portion of the United States. Anadromous and resident fish species and other wildlife are integrated into the cultural traditions of all Tribes in the Columbia River Basin. Salmon, lamprey, sturgeon, and resident fish are an integral part of Tribal religion, culture, and physical sustenance. Despite concerns about the effect of contaminants on the aquatic ecosystem, the disproportionate effects of contaminants on members of Tribal sovereignties, and the known effects of contaminants on species protected under the Endangered Species Act, efforts to address toxic chemical pollution in the Columbia River have been limited. The lack of a dedicated contaminant monitoring program impedes evaluation and decision making regarding the health of the Columbia River ecosystem, as well as human health for Tribal members and others that consume fish and other biota from the Columbia River. The purpose of this framework is to provide guidance for the development of a long-term program (Program) that provides the basis for assessing the status and trends of contaminants in fish, sediment, water, and invertebrates along the 962-kilometer length of the Columbia River from the Bonneville Dam upriver to the Canadian Border (Figure ES1). This framework will focus on four persistent and bioaccumulative classes of toxic contaminants: • Mercury • Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) • Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) • Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) Media of interest in this framework include anadromous and resident fish, sediment, invertebrates, biofilm, and surface water. Future consideration of additional contaminants could include pesticides, per or poly-fluoroalkyl substances, 6PPD-quinone, and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), which comprises a diverse group of anthropogenic chemicals that include thousands of pharmaceuticals, hormones, illicit drugs, new pesticides, personal care products, flame retardants, artificial sweeteners, perfluorinated compounds, disinfection byproducts, ultraviolet filters, and other industrial chemicals. This framework includes the vision, goals, and objectives for the Program. The vision for the Program is that it will provide the basis for assessing the status and trends of contaminants in the Columbia River to guide ecosystem recovery resulting in clean, healthy fish for current and future generations . The goals of the Program are to 1) conduct long-term monitoring to assess the spatial and temporal status and trends of toxics in fish, water, sediment, and other potential media in the Columbia River mainstem, from Bonneville Dam to the Canadian Border in perpetuity, 2) stimulate conversion of science into action by providing information to facilitate future decision making that improves ecosystem function and reduces contaminants in all levels of the food chain, and 3) adaptively manage the Program to address new key questions, incorporate new and emerging science advancements, and respond to community information needs. To facilitate achieving these goals, this framework provides details on technical planning; community outreach and engagement; and adaptive management to promote understanding and improve future decision making over the long-term, including updating the Program with new and emerging science and community needs. Additionally, data associated with the Program will be made available to the public through the EPA Water Quality Exchange (https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/water-quality-data). Documents and other materials associated with the Program can be accessed via a website hosted by Yakama Nation Fisheries (https://yakamafish-nsn.gov/restore/projects/columbia-river-mainstem- water-quality-monitoring-program). Although the Program is limited to the Columbia River upstream of the Bonneville Dam, collaboration with other entities that monitor contaminants in the Columbia River Basin, including the Columbia River estuary below Bonneville Dam, are also an important component of outreach. Our goal is to encourage efforts to ensure data comparability across programs and recognize that the growth and adaptive management of the Program considers basin-wide monitoring developments.

Oregon, Washington↗
USGS2026

Development of a two-stage lifecycle model to inform the trap-and-haul program for Oncorhynchus kisutch (coho salmon) in the Lewis River, Washington

Restoration of salmon populations in the upper Lewis River Basin, Washington, depends on a trap-and-haul program owing to the Lewis River Hydroelectric Project (hereinafter referred to as “Project”) operated by PacifiCorp and Cowlitz Public Utilities District (hereinafter referred to as “Utilities”), which has been a barrier to salmon passage since the 1930s. Thus, sustaining the Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum, 1792; coho salmon) population upstream from the Project currently depends on two fundamental factors: (1) the collection of upstream migrating adult coho salmon at Merwin Dam, the lowermost dam within the Project, and transporting them by truck to spawn above Swift Dam, the uppermost dam within the Project; and (2) the collection of out-migrating juvenile coho salmon at the downstream collection facility at Swift Dam for transport and release below the Project. The reintroduction program began once the downstream collection facility at Swift Dam was commissioned in late 2012, with the first year of transport data being collected in 2013. Over the past decade, the Utilities have been collecting data on juvenile outmigrants and adult fish returns at the dams. The need to construct a lifecycle model for Lewis River anadromous fish was identified by the Lewis River Aquatic Technical Subgroup, with the understanding that many years (more than 15 years) of data collection are needed to adequately measure the lifecycle production of salmon. The U.S. Geological Survey was contracted to develop and apply the model to past data at the Lewis River dams to help inform future data collection and provide a framework that can be updated annually to measure trap-and-haul program performance within a lifecycle context. Because coho salmon can live as long as 5 years, estimating demographic parameters for coho salmon populations over their lifecycle requires at least 10 or more years of data collection. Over the past decade, PacifiCorp has been collecting data on fish collection efficiency and the numbers of adult and juvenile salmon transported around the Lewis River dams, making this an ideal time to formulate a lifecycle model that can guide future data collection efforts and provide preliminary information to resource managers. The goal of the statistical lifecycle model is to estimate annual production and survival during two critical life-stage transitions: (1) the freshwater production from escapement of adults released upstream from Swift Dam, and the collection of downstream migrating juveniles at the downstream passage facility at Swift Dam; and (2) the smolt-to-adult survival from the time of collection at Swift Dam to their return as adults. We used the Beverton-Holt stock-recruitment model to estimate juvenile production from the number of spawners (Beverton and Holt, 1957). This approach allowed us to test for density dependence at current spawner abundances while estimating annual productivity, defined as the number of juveniles produced per spawner at low spawner abundance. Productivity was then expressed as a function of the number of juveniles collected and transported downstream from the Project. Because juvenile fish collection efficiency (FCE) directly affects the number of juveniles that survive to continue downstream migration, FCE is a primary determinant of fish production. Consequently, the modeling framework is well suited to evaluate the performance of trap-and-haul programs within a lifecycle context. The objectives of this study were to (1) gather and collate available data on adult and juvenile coho salmon at Merwin and Swift Dams; (2) quantify adult escapement, juvenile abundance, and the age at outmigration and adult return; (3) describe, formulate and fit the integrated population model to the data; and (4) summarize our findings, identify data gaps, and identify opportunities for future studies that could improve model estimation and inference. Our key findings were: (1) over and above the number of spawning females, FCE was the primary factor affecting productivity of coho salmon above Swift Dam; (2) smolt-to-adult return (SAR) rates were relatively high considering that harvest was included in the estimate, averaging about 4.5 percent and ranging as high as 12.9 percent; and (3) juvenile capacity upstream from Swift Dam was difficult to estimate due to the limited range in spawning females over the time series of data, suggesting the model may be improved by collecting data at higher spawner abundances. In addition, by including FCE in the model, we estimated that the median pre-collection productivity, defined as the number of juveniles produced per spawner when FCE=1, was 64 juveniles per spawner. Because the two-stage lifecycle model partitions factors that affect fish production in rivers versus the ocean, the model estimates may help inform fishery managers about the overall role that fish collection at Swift Dam plays in the recovery and sustainability of Lewis River coho salmon. By providing the model with (1) more years of data, (2) higher numbers of spawning females, and (3) data on age at juvenile migration in relation to age at adult return, greater certainty in the estimates of capacity and SAR can be attained. Ultimately, information provided by the model may assist in the evaluation and continued improvement of the current trap-and-haul program to support anadromous fishes in the Lewis River Basin.

Washington↗