An estimate of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawning habitat and redd capacity upstream of a migration barrier in the upper Columbia River

2004 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P Hanrahan ◽  
Dennis D Dauble ◽  
David R Geist

Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River is the upstream terminus for anadromous fish because of its lack of fish passage facilities. Management agencies are currently evaluating the feasibility of reintroducing anadromous fish upriver of Chief Joseph Dam. We evaluated the physical characteristics of potential fall chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawning habitat in the upper section of Chief Joseph Reservoir. The objectives were to estimate the location and quantity of potential spawning habitat and to determine the redd capacity of the area based on spawning habitat characteristics. The suitability of the study area was estimated through the use of geomorphic analysis, empirical physical data, and modeled hydraulic data. We estimated that 5% (48.7 ha) of the study area contains potentially suitable fall chinook salmon spawning habitat. Potential spawning habitat is primarily limited by deep water and low water velocities, resulting in 20% (9.6 ha) of the potential spawning habitat being characterized as high quality. Estimates of redd capacity within potential spawning habitat range from 207 to 1599 redds. The results of our study provide fisheries managers with useful information for evaluating the complex issue of reintroducing anadromous fish to the Columbia River upstream of Chief Joseph Dam.

2000 ◽  
Vol 57 (8) ◽  
pp. 1636-1646 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R Geist ◽  
Julia Jones ◽  
Christopher J Murray ◽  
Dennis D Dauble

We improved our predictions of fall chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) habitat use by analyzing spawning habitat at the spatial scale of redd clusters. Spatial point pattern analyses indicated that redd clusters in the Hanford Reach, Columbia River, were consistent in their location from 1994 to 1995. Redd densities were 16.1 and 8.9 redds·ha-1 in 1994 and 1995, respectively, and individual redds within clusters were usually less than 30 m apart. Pattern analysis also showed strong evidence that redds were uniformly distributed within the clusters where interredd distances ranged from 2 to 5 m. Redd clusters were found to occur predominantly where water velocity was between 1.4 and 2 m·s-1, water depth was 2-4 m, and lateral slope of the riverbed was less than 4%. This habitat use represented a narrower range of use than previously reported for adult fall chinook salmon. Logistic regression analysis determined that water velocity and lateral slope were the most significant predictors of redd cluster location over a range of river discharges. Overestimates of available spawning habitat lead to nonachievable goals for protecting and restoring critical salmonid habitat. Better predictions of spawning habitat may be possible if cluster-specific characteristics are used.


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Shallin Busch ◽  
Mindi Sheer ◽  
Kelly Burnett ◽  
Paul McElhany ◽  
Tom Cooney

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (8) ◽  
pp. 1752-1762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew L Keefer ◽  
Christopher C Caudill ◽  
Christopher A Peery ◽  
Theodore C Bjornn

Upstream-migrating adult salmon must make a series of correct navigation and route-selection decisions to successfully locate natal streams. In this field study, we examined factors influencing migration route selections early in the migration of 4361 radio-tagged adult Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) as they moved upstream past dams in the large (~1 km wide) Columbia River. Substantial behavioral differences were observed among 11 conspecific populations, despite largely concurrent migrations. At dams, Chinook salmon generally preferred ladder passage routes adjacent to the shoreline where their natal tributaries entered, and the degree of preference increased as salmon proximity to natal tributaries increased. Columbia River discharge also influenced route choices, explaining some route selection variability. We suggest that salmon detect lateral gradients in orientation cues across the Columbia River channel that are entrained within tributary plumes and that these gradients in cues can persist downstream for tens to hundreds of kilometres. Detection of tributary plumes in large river systems, using olfactory or other navigation cues, may facilitate efficient route selection and optimize energy conservation by long-distance migrants.


2000 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 616-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis W Botsford ◽  
Charles M Paulsen

We assessed covariability among a number of spawning populations of spring-summer run chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Columbia River basin by computing correlations among several different types of spawner and recruit data. We accounted for intraseries correlation explicitly in judging the significance of correlations. To reduce the errors involved in computing effective degrees of freedom, we computed a generic effective degrees of freedom for each data type. In spite of the fact that several of these stocks have declined, covariability among locations using several different combinations of spawner and recruitment data indicated no basinwide covariability. There was, however, significant covariability among index populations within the three main subbasins: the Snake River, the mid-Columbia River, and the John Day River. This covariability was much stronger and more consistent in data types reflecting survival (e.g., the natural logarithm of recruits per spawner) than in data reflecting abundance (e.g., spawning escapement). We also tested a measure of survival that did not require knowing the age structure of spawners, the ratio of spawners in one year to spawners 4 years earlier. It displayed a similar spatial pattern.


2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (10) ◽  
pp. 1862-1873 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Michelle Wargo Rub ◽  
Nicholas A. Som ◽  
Mark J. Henderson ◽  
Benjamin P. Sandford ◽  
Donald M. Van Doornik ◽  
...  

Considerable effort towards conservation has contributed to the recovery of historically depleted pinniped populations worldwide. However, in several locations where pinnipeds have increased, they have been blamed for preventing the recovery of commercially valuable fish species through predation. Prompted by increasing pinniped abundance within the Columbia River (CR), USA, over a 6-year period, we used passive integrated transponder tags to measure the survival of adult spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) through the estuary and lower CR to Bonneville Dam (river kilometre 234). We estimated 51 751 – 224 705 salmon died annually within this reach from sources other than harvest. Mixed-effects logistic regression modelling identified pinniped predation as the most likely source of this mortality. The odds of survival was estimated to decrease by 32% (95% CI: 6%–51%) for every additional 467 sea lions (Zalophus californianus and Eumetopias jubatus) present within the CR and to increase by 32% (95% CI: 8%–61%) for every increase of 1.5 in the log of American shad (Alosa sapidissima), a potential prey item for sea lions.


1968 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 867-876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan B. Groves ◽  
Gerald B. Collins ◽  
Parker S. Trefethen

An experiment was conducted to examine the roles of olfaction and vision in directing the choice of spawning site by homing adult chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) on the lower Columbia River. Male fish that voluntarily entered the Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery were treated to occlude their olfactory or visual senses or both. Treated and untreated (control) fish were released upstream and downstream in the river, more than 19 km from the hatchery. Effects were assessed by analyzing returns to the hatchery and to other points.Of 866 fish released, 348 or 40% were recovered; about half of them, or 176 returned to Spring Creek. Three per cent of the olfactory occluded, 23% of the visually occluded, and 46% of the control fish returned to Spring Creek. Of the fish recovered elsewhere, 77% were recovered at hatcheries and spawn-taking sites along the lower Columbia; 23% were recovered from sources unrelated to spawn taking.Olfaction appeared to be the key sense that directed the return of these fish to Spring Creek; vision was held to be less important. Olfactory occlusion also reduced the recoveries at other spawn-taking sites, where blinded fish were recovered in appreciable numbers. Recovery of the control fish, especially the smaller ones, at other spawn-taking sites was associated with advancing sexual maturity.


1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean P Gallagher ◽  
Mark F Gard

An index of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawning habitat predicted using the physical habitat simulation system (PHABSIM) component of the instream flow incremental methodology was compared with redd densities and locations for sites in the Merced River, California, during 1996 and with redd numbers in sites in the Merced and Lower American rivers, California, from 1989 through 1996. Predicted weighted useable area (WUA) was significantly correlated with chinook salmon spawning density and location at five of seven sites in the Merced River. At the microhabitat level, in the Merced River during 1996, there was a significant relationship between chinook salmon redd location and predicted WUA. Cells with more WUA in the Merced River tended to have more redds. At the mesohabitat level, there was a significant relationship between redd density and predicted WUA in both rivers. Transect areas in the Merced River with higher predicted WUA had more redds. Sites with higher numbers of redds had more predicted WUA. Significant correlations between predicted WUA and spawning locations increase confidence in the use of PHABSIM modeling results for fisheries management in the Merced and Lower American rivers as well as in other rivers.


1998 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 658-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W Zabel ◽  
James J Anderson ◽  
Pamela A Shaw

A multiple-reach model was developed to describe the downstream migration of juvenile salmonids in the Columbia River system. Migration rate for cohorts of fish was allowed to vary by reach and time step. A nested sequence of linear and nonlinear models related the variation in migration rates to river flow, date in season, and experience in the river. By comparing predicted with observed travel times at multiple observation sites along the migration route, the relative performance of the migration rate models was assessed. The analysis was applied to cohorts of yearling chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) captured at the Snake River Trap near Lewiston, Idaho, and fitted with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags over the 8-year period 1989-1996. The fish were observed at Lower Granite and Little Goose dams on the Snake River and McNary Dam on the Columbia River covering a migration distance of 277 km. The data supported a model containing two behavioral components: a flow term related to season where fish spend more time in regions of higher river velocity later in the season and a flow-independent experience effect where the fish migrate faster the longer they have been in the river.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document