Pacific Salmon Environmental and Life History Models: Advancing Science for Sustainable Salmon in the Future

2009 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Iterative Process ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Restoration And Protection

<em>Abstract.</em>—The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Tribal co-managers are using the Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) model to identify the spatial and temporal habitat limits of salmon populations and predict the effects of proposed habitat restoration projects for ESA-listed Chinook salmon <em>Oncorhynchus tshawytscha </em>in two Puget Sound watersheds. The collaborative, iterative process focused on habitat-based population models for the Dungeness and Dosewallips watersheds. Workshops were held to develop quantitative characteristics of current, historic, hypothetical properly functioning, and future habitat conditions. The model predicted salmon populations in the watersheds for each set of habitat conditions. Recovery targets were based on the predicted populations for historic and hypothetical properly functioning conditions. Future populations were modeled using projected habitat conditions with individual habitat restoration and protection actions already proposed and combinations of these actions. Populations resulting from further habitat degradation were estimated using the effects of projected human population growth on habitat.

Pacific Salmon Environmental and Life History Models: Advancing Science for Sustainable Salmon in the Future

2009 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Restoration Strategies ◽  
Restoration And Protection ◽  
Population Performance

<em>Abstract.</em>—The Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT) model is being used to build working hypotheses to direct habitat restoration and protection activities in most Pacific Northwest salmon watersheds. The EDT model is used to provide a basis for moving forward with restoration and protection activities, evaluating progress, and refining restoration strategies. The model consists of four components: 1) characterization of the aquatic environment, 2) species-habitat rating rules, 3) life history trajectories, and 4) population performance computations. The environmental characterization is a reach-scale, monthly time step, species-neutral depiction of the stream that focuses on environmental features relevant to salmonids. The species-habitat rating rules are explicit assumptions about the relationship between the stream reach characterization and species-life stage survival. Life history trajectories are multiple computer-generated pathways through the environment. Finally, life history and population performance, defined by Beverton–Holt productivity and capacity parameters, is calculated for each life history trajectory and these trajectories are combined across spatial and biological scales to compute population performance. The model is a freely accessible, web-based tool (http://edt.jonesandstokes.com).

Early marine life history of juvenile Pacific salmon in two regions of Puget Sound

2005 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth J. Duffy ◽  
David A. Beauchamp ◽  
Raymond M. Buckley
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Marine Life ◽  
History Of ◽  
Juvenile Pacific Salmon

Using a qualitative model to explore the impacts of ecosystem and anthropogenic drivers upon declining marine survival in Pacific salmon

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATHRYN L. SOBOCINSKI ◽  
CORREIGH M. GREENE ◽  
MICHAEL W. SCHMIDT
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Food Web ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Network Modelling ◽  
Marine Survival

SUMMARYCoho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in Puget Sound and the Strait of Georgia have exhibited declines in marine survival over the last 40 years. While the cause of these declines is unknown, multiple factors, acting cumulatively or synergistically, have likely contributed. To evaluate the potential contribution of a broad suite of drivers on salmon survival, we used qualitative network modelling (QNM). QNM is a conceptually based tool that uses networks with specified relationships between the variables. In a simulation framework, linkages are weighted and then the models are subjected to user-specified perturbations. Our network had 33 variables, including: environmental and oceanographic drivers (e.g., temperature and precipitation), primary production variables, food web components from zooplankton to predators and anthropogenic impacts (e.g., habitat loss and hatcheries). We included salmon traits (survival, abundance, residence time, fitness and size) as response variables. We invoked perturbations to each node and to suites of drivers and evaluated the responses of these variables. The model showed that anthropogenic impacts resulted in the strongest negative responses in salmon survival and abundance. Additionally, feedbacks through the food web were strong, beginning with primary production, suggesting that several food web variables may be important in mediating effects on salmon survival within the system. With this model, we were able to compare the relative influence of multiple drivers on salmon survival.

Pacific Salmon Environmental and Life History Models: Advancing Science for Sustainable Salmon in the Future

2009 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Fish Habitat ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Plans ◽  
Fisheries Act

<em>Abstract.</em>—The 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act states that all federal fisheries management plans should contain a description of essential fish habitat (EFH). While much emphasis has been placed on estimating EFH for marine stocks, very little attention has been paid to doing so for Pacific salmon <em>Oncorhynchus </em>spp., in part due to their complex life histories. An earlier assessment of EFH for Pacific salmon across the west coast of the United States focused on the freshwater component of EFH due to limited knowledge about marine distributions. That analysis concluded that a more in-depth and smaller-scale examination was needed to assess how freshwater habitat affects the various life stages. Here we use a detailed life history model for Pacific salmon to estimate the freshwater component of EFH for two threatened populations of Chinook salmon within a large watershed draining into Puget Sound, Washington, USA. By accounting for proposed harvest rates, hatchery practices, and habitat structure, we identified 23 of 50 subbasins as EFH for ensuring no significant decrease in the total number of spawners relative to current average escapement. Our analytical framework could be easily applied to other populations or species of salmon to aid in developing recovery and management plans.

Rates of straying by hatchery-produced Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) differ among species, life history types, and populations

2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 735-746 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A.H. Westley ◽  
Thomas P. Quinn ◽  
Andrew H. Dittman
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Oncorhynchus Mykiss ◽  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Coho Salmon ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Upstream Migration ◽  
Endocrine Factors ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Stream Type

Here we ask whether straying differs among species, life history types, and populations of adult hatchery-produced Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in the Columbia River basin. Previous estimates of straying have been confounded by various factors influencing the probability of individuals returning to non-natal sites (e.g., off-station releases), whereas analyses undertaken here of nearly a quarter million coded-wire tag recoveries control for these factors. Our results revealed large and generally consistent differences in the propensity to stray among species, life history types within species, and populations. Paired releases indicated that (i) Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) strayed more (mean population range 0.11%–34.6%) than coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) (0.08%–0.94%); (ii) ocean-type Chinook (5.2%–18.6%) strayed more than stream-type Chinook (0.11%–10%); and Chinook salmon (0.90%–54.9%) strayed more than steelhead (0.30%–2.3%). We conclude these patterns are largely the result of species-specific behavioral and endocrine factors during the juvenile life stages, but analyses also suggest that environmental factors can influence straying during the adult upstream migration.

Incorporating parameter uncertainty into evaluation of spawning habitat limitations on Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) populations

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 1242-1250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J Beechie ◽  
Correigh M Greene ◽  
Lisa Holsinger ◽  
Eric M Beamer
Keyword(s):  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Parameter Uncertainty ◽  
Habitat Restoration ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Spawning Habitat ◽  
River Population ◽  
Empirical Distributions ◽  
Input Parameters ◽  
Capacity Estimates

Incorporating parameter uncertainty into a Monte Carlo procedure for estimating spawning habitat capacity helped determine that spawning habitat availability is unlikely to limit recovery of six populations of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in Puget Sound. Spawner capacity estimates spanned up to four orders of magnitude, yet there was virtually no overlap of distributions of capacity estimates with distributions of current spawner abundance (<0.2% overlap), except for the Suiattle River population (51% overlap). Empirical distributions of input parameters contained several important sources of uncertainty, insuring reasonably wide distributions of capacity estimates. The most defensible ranges of input parameters tended to produce conservative capacity estimates, indicating that increased model accuracy would only strengthen our conclusion that spawning habitat is not a constraint on these populations. There are insufficient data with which to develop parameter distributions that better represent historical capacity, which would certainly be higher than our estimates. Our results suggest that factors other than spawning capacity limit population size and that recovery efforts for Skagit River Chinook salmon need not focus on spawning habitat restoration.

Pacific Salmon Environmental and Life History Models: Advancing Science for Sustainable Salmon in the Future

2009 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Simulation Model ◽  
Fishery Management ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Ricker Model ◽  
Marine Environmental

<em>Abstract.</em>—This study demonstrates an application of a life history simulation model to evaluate robustness of a spawner-recruit model and fishery management practices. A Chinook salmon <em>Oncorhynchus tshawytscha </em>life history simulation model was constructed with inclusion of various density-dependent conditions, marine environmental changes, and marine derived nutrients (MDN). The simulation model was run for 200 years. At the 101st year, a fishery was introduced at harvest rates of 25, 50, or 75%. The Ricker spawner-recruit model was fit to data from pre-fishery (1–100th) and post-fishery (181–200th) years. The Ricker model parameters (<em>α</em>, <em>β</em>), equilibrium spawner size (<em>S<sub>k</sub></em>), and spawner population size that provides the maximum sustainable yield (<em>S<sub>msy</sub></em>) were estimated, and compared between pre-fishery and post-fishery. In addition, “true” <em>S<sub>k</sub> </em>and <em>S<sub>msy</sub> </em>were calculated directly from the life history model and were compared with those estimated by the Ricker-model. Results showed that: 1) the pre-fishery Ricker model <em>S<sub>msy</sub> </em>estimates tended to be about the same or higher than the “true” <em>S<sub>msy</sub></em>, but lower than those with MDN effects, 2) the post-fishery Ricker model <em>S<sub>msy</sub> </em>estimates tended to be lower than the pre-fishery ones and “true” <em>S<sub>msy</sub></em>, especially at the 50% and 75% harvest rates, and 3) the above results did not differ largely with inclusion of marine environmental variability in the model. These results suggest that the Ricker model is sufficiently robust to fit and estimate <em>S<sub>msy</sub> </em>for various populations except for those with MDN effects, and only when it was fit to pre-fishery (unexploited) and/or low harvest rate data. However, for populations with high harvest rates, the Ricker model tends to underestimate <em>S<sub>k</sub> </em>and <em>S<sub>msy</sub></em>.

The Shiraz model: a tool for incorporating anthropogenic effects and fish–habitat relationships in conservation planning

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 1596-1607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D Scheuerell ◽  
Ray Hilborn ◽  
Mary H Ruckelshaus ◽  
Krista K Bartz ◽  
Kerry M Lagueux ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Conservation Planning ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Pacific Salmon ◽  
Fish Habitat ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
Physical Habitat ◽  
Harvest Management ◽  
Recovery Planning

Current efforts to conserve Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) rely on a variety of information sources, including empirical observations, expert opinion, and models. Here we outline a framework for incorporating detailed information on density-dependent population growth, habitat attributes, hatchery operations, and harvest management into conservation planning in a time-varying, spatially explicit manner. We rely on a multistage Beverton–Holt model to describe the production of salmon from one life stage to the next. We use information from the literature to construct relationships between the physical environment and the necessary productivity and capacity parameters for the model. As an example of how policy makers can use the model in recovery planning, we applied the model to a threatened population of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Snohomish River basin in Puget Sound, Washington, USA. By incorporating additional data on hatchery operations and harvest management for Snohomish River basin stocks, we show how proposed actions to improve physical habitat throughout the basin translate into projected improvements in four important population attributes: abundance, productivity, spatial structure, and life-history diversity. We also describe how to adapt the model to a variety of other management applications.

scholarly journals Estimates of Chinook salmon consumption in Washington State inland waters by four marine mammal predators from 1970 to 2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (8) ◽  
pp. 1173-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Chasco ◽  
Isaac C. Kaplan ◽  
Austen Thomas ◽  
Alejandro Acevedo-Gutiérrez ◽  
Dawn Noren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chinook Salmon ◽  
Marine Mammal ◽  
Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Puget Sound ◽  
The United States ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Killer Whales ◽  
Protected Species ◽  
Annual Biomass

Conflicts can arise when the recovery of one protected species limits the recovery of another through competition or predation. The recovery of many marine mammal populations on the west coast of the United States has been viewed as a success; however, within Puget Sound in Washington State, the increased abundance of three protected pinniped species may be adversely affecting the recovery of threatened Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and endangered killer whales (Orcinus orca) within the region. Between 1970 and 2015, we estimate that the annual biomass of Chinook salmon consumed by pinnipeds has increased from 68 to 625 metric tons. Converting juvenile Chinook salmon into adult equivalents, we found that by 2015, pinnipeds consumed double that of resident killer whales and six times greater than the combined commercial and recreational catches. We demonstrate the importance of interspecific interactions when evaluating species recovery. As more protected species respond positively to recovery efforts, managers should attempt to evaluate tradeoffs between these recovery efforts and the unintended ecosystem consequences of predation and competition on other protected species.

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