PIT tagging Hanford Reach juvenile fall Chinook salmon for migration ...
PIT tagging Hanford Reach juvenile fall Chinook salmon for migration and survival monitoring in 2007
Report submitted to the Southeast Sustainable Salmon Fund
Jeffrey K. Fryer, Ph.D. Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 729 NE Oregon Portland, OR 97232 June 30, 2008
Introduction Hanford Reach fall Chinook are a significant contributor to ocean fisheries off the coast of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington, as well as Columbia in-river harvests (Anglin et al. 2006). As well, this stock has produced large escapements in recent years, and has the reputation of being one of the few naturally sustaining Chinook salmon stocks left in the United States outside of Alaska. Despite being relatively productive compared to other Columbia Basin stocks, Hanford Reach fall Chinook are heavily impacted by the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). Flows in the Hanford Reach are highly manipulated by the hydrosystem, affecting adult spawning in the fall and juvenile rearing and migration in the spring. In the past, downstream migrating juveniles were also affected by hydro operations that limited spill. However, a 2006 decision by the District Court of Oregon Judge James Redden increased spill volumes at Columbia River dams which should greatly benefit fall Chinook survival and productivity. However, increased spill results in decreased generation revenue, and its benefit to fish survival production is under great scrutiny. This project provides essential data that can be used by fishery managers to support spill and other improvements to inriver fish passage through the hydrosystem. The primary goal of this project is to assess outmigrant timing and survival through the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) for Hanford Reach fall Chinook using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags. The complex outmigrant biology and ecology of fall Chinook make it easy to scrutinize and question the benefits of spill and flow. This is due in part to the specifics of fall Chinook life history, and the corresponding logistical and physical constraints on studying them. Fall Chinook move slowly through the FCRPS, and feed and grow throughout this migration as they prepare for ocean entry. They experience a wide range of habitats, predators, and competitors throughout their migration. In addition, since a good proportion of fall Chinook leave the FCRPS late in the spring season they experience the full affects of low flows and power demand conflicts. Increasing the survival of these later migrants is important because there is evidence that these salmon are the primary contributors to fisheries. The purpose of this collaboration between the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishery Commission, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was to monitor 2007 outmigrant timing and survival of naturally reared Hanford Reach fall Chinook by tagging naturally reared fall Chinook on site at the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. PIT-tag release and detection information were used to assess outmigrant timing and survival and compare to previous years. Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags are a key tool for monitoring salmonid survival and movement in the Columbia River Basin (Prentice et al. 1990a, 1990b). These tags are implanted in fish and are both activated and read by an array that the fish
pass. PIT tag technology has become more widely used following construction of PIT tag detection arrays at juvenile bypass and adult passage facilities at Columbia River Basin dams (www.ptagis.org). Recently, PIT tag arrays have also been placed across the bottom of both large and small rivers. A web-based PIT-tag database (www.ptagis.org) facilitates automatic upload of data, providing near-real-time monitoring of individual fish during both juvenile and adult migrations. The increase in the number of PIT-tagged fish released and increased detection capability has combined to make PIT tags a powerful tool. PIT tags are commonly implanted in juveniles at hatcheries, smolt traps, and at juvenile bypass facilities at dams. The most widely used PIT tag (model TX1411SST) measures 12.5 mm SST x 2.1 mm. The Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority PIT Tag Steering Committee recommends that this length of tag be implanted in fish ≥65 mm fork length (CBFWA 1999) due to smaller PIT-tagged fish having increased vulnerability to predation and decreased swimming stamina (McCann et al. 1993) as well as a decreased interrogation rate of small fish at dams (Achord et al. 1993). This length requirement allows for the tagging of most outmigrating steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), coho (O. kisutch), sockeye (O. nerka), and yearling Chinook (O. tshawytscha) salmon smolts, but we have found that natural-origin subyearling Hanford Reach fall Chinook salmon >65 mm are difficult to capture, likely due to their rearing in deeper areas and/or beginning to migrate downstream prior to reaching this length. Indeed, previous PIT-tagging projects on the Hanford Reach have commonly tagged fish as small as about 55 mm. The inability to tag smaller fish has complicated efforts to PIT tag Hanford Reach fall Chinook salmon, which are the largest naturally-spawning salmon population in the Columbia Basin (Anglin et al. 2007). To obtain sufficient juvenile Hanford Reach fall Chinook salmon ≥65 mm requires sorting through large numbers of smaller fish and/or capturing fish in deeper water where capture is more difficult. Salmonids migrating from upstream are also more likely to be captured in deeper water, and since many of these upriver salmonids are listed as endangered species, this makes regulatory approval for tagging projects more difficult as well as raising the possibility of tagging some of these upriver migrants. In years of low abundance it would likely be impossible to capture sufficient numbers of ≥65 mm FL fish. In 2007, a new PIT tag, (Destron Fearing model TX148511B) that is only 8.5 mm in length (Figure 1) became available that promised detection at most sites nearly as good as the 12.5 mm SST TX1400ST tag which was the Columbia Basin standard through 20061. The TX148511B tag allows fish as short as 45 mm to be tagged (C. Rabe, Nez Perce Tribe, unpublished data).
1
This tag has since been replaced by the 12.5 mm SST TX1411SST which offers improved detection.
Figure 1. Comparison of size of 12.5 mm SST and 8.5 mm tags with typical sized juvenile fall Chinook salmon injected with each.
Juvenile Hanford Reach fall Chinook pass by detection sites at McNary, John Day, and Bonneville dams (Figure 2) and also are subject to detection in a towed array operated in the Columbia River estuary. Among these sites, the one site where the 12.5 mm SST tag was expected to have higher detection rates than the 8.5 mm tag was at the Bonneville Dam corner collector. The corner collector is the trash and ice sluiceway that was found to pass considerable numbers of juvenile fish and thus, prior to 2007, had modifications made to improve fish survival as well as being equipped with PIT tag detectors. At this collector, fish pass through a 16 foot wide antenna that is considerably wider than those at other sites. Fish passing through the Bonneville smolt bypass facility with the different tag types would be expected to have equal probability of detection.
Figure 2. The Columbia River showing the Hanford Reach, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville dams.
This project, scheduled to run for both 2007 and 2008, has three objectives. The first is to assess outmigrant timing and survival through the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) for Hanford Reach fall Chinook using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags. The second is to compare results for fish tagged with the two different tags in terms of tagging mortality, tag loss, and downstream migration timing and survival A third objective is to compile past data from juvenile fall Chinook salmon PIT tagged at the Hanford Reach and Priest Rapids Hatchery. This report discusses the first two objectives.
Study Area The Hanford Reach extends approximately 93km from Priest Rapids Dam to Richland, Washington, and is the largest un-impounded, non-tidal stretch of the Columbia River in the United States (Figure 3). Unlike most other fall Chinook salmon spawning areas in the Columbia Basin (Fulton 1968, Dauble and Watson 1997), this stretch has not been dammed nor had access blocked by dams. Human access to much of the area has been restricted since the 1940’s due to the development of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation for nuclear weapons development and the subsequent cleanup after weapons production ceased. An old boat ramp at the former Hanford town site was the base of operations for this project in 2007 (Figure 3).
Figure 3. The Columbia River, from Richland, WA to Priest Rapids dam (commonly referred to as the Hanford Reach).
Methods.
Fish Collection Fish were captured in conjunction with a coded wire tagging program run since 1987 by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (Fryer 2003). The goal of this project is to coded wire tag 200,000 juvenile fall Chinook salmon for use in monitoring ocean and in-river harvest rates. Pre-smolt salmon were collected by three crews of 3 to 4 persons working out of two 5.8 m to 6.4 m jet sleds. Fish are collected primarily upstream of the Hanford town site boat ramp to reduce the likelihood of re-capturing previously tagged fish. Fish were primarily captured with stick seines 11.0 m to 18.3 m long and 1.8 m deep with a mesh size of 4.8 mm. Sections of the river with moderate velocity and 0.3 to 1.4 m of depth are the target seining areas. The capture technique requires two persons pulling each end
the net and a third person walking through the shallow water adjacent to the net sweep but ahead of the net in an effort to scare juveniles out of the river bank area and into the net’s path. The net is moved with the current parallel to the river bank for distances of 25 m to 100 m before the net was pursed. Shorter sets are made when large numbers of juveniles were encountered or to avoid obstacles. The captured juvenile Chinook salmon were temporarily placed into 19 liter plastic buckets and then transferred to the holding tanks equipped with oxygen aeration systems in each boat. When either a full load of approximately 10,000 fish was reached, or about three hours had passed, the fish were transported to the tagging area at the old Hanford town site boat launch. Here they were transferred into three 0.9 m x 0.9 m x 4.9m fiberglass tanks with a pump providing a continuous water flow (Figure 1). Fish normally spend one or two nights in these holding tanks prior to tagging. Fish were anesthetized and graded by the tagging crew. For coded-wire tagging, fish were graded into four size groups; two of culls (less than 48 mm and greater than 80 mm, the latter being very rare) and two of fish to be coded-wire tagged (48-59 mm, and 60-80mm) which are tagged using different head mold sizes. These fish are then adipose clipped and coded wire tagged prior to being allowed to recover and released. We used these sorted (and adipose-clipped) fish for PIT tagging. The >60 mm and 48-60 mm groups were transported to the PIT tagging trailer in 19 liter buckets.
PIT tagging PIT Tags were inserted using standard techniques (CBFWA 1999) in a Biomark PIT tagging trailer equipped with a recirculating anesthetic system and flow-through fish holding tanks. One technician tagged the fish while second technician entered data while three to four others technicians disinfected, loaded tag injectors, and supported the operation. Subsequent to tagging, fish were held overnight and released back into the river the following morning. To test 8.5 mm tags, we planned to divide the 20,000 fish tagged into three groups: 1.) 10,000 fish >60 mm to be tagged with 12.5 mm SST tags which would be comparable to what has been tagged in previous years. 2.) 5,000 fish >60 mm to be tagged with 8.5 mm tags, allowing comparison with group (1). 3.) 5,000 fish
Report submitted to the Southeast Sustainable Salmon Fund
Jeffrey K. Fryer, Ph.D. Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission 729 NE Oregon Portland, OR 97232 June 30, 2008
Introduction Hanford Reach fall Chinook are a significant contributor to ocean fisheries off the coast of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington, as well as Columbia in-river harvests (Anglin et al. 2006). As well, this stock has produced large escapements in recent years, and has the reputation of being one of the few naturally sustaining Chinook salmon stocks left in the United States outside of Alaska. Despite being relatively productive compared to other Columbia Basin stocks, Hanford Reach fall Chinook are heavily impacted by the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). Flows in the Hanford Reach are highly manipulated by the hydrosystem, affecting adult spawning in the fall and juvenile rearing and migration in the spring. In the past, downstream migrating juveniles were also affected by hydro operations that limited spill. However, a 2006 decision by the District Court of Oregon Judge James Redden increased spill volumes at Columbia River dams which should greatly benefit fall Chinook survival and productivity. However, increased spill results in decreased generation revenue, and its benefit to fish survival production is under great scrutiny. This project provides essential data that can be used by fishery managers to support spill and other improvements to inriver fish passage through the hydrosystem. The primary goal of this project is to assess outmigrant timing and survival through the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) for Hanford Reach fall Chinook using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags. The complex outmigrant biology and ecology of fall Chinook make it easy to scrutinize and question the benefits of spill and flow. This is due in part to the specifics of fall Chinook life history, and the corresponding logistical and physical constraints on studying them. Fall Chinook move slowly through the FCRPS, and feed and grow throughout this migration as they prepare for ocean entry. They experience a wide range of habitats, predators, and competitors throughout their migration. In addition, since a good proportion of fall Chinook leave the FCRPS late in the spring season they experience the full affects of low flows and power demand conflicts. Increasing the survival of these later migrants is important because there is evidence that these salmon are the primary contributors to fisheries. The purpose of this collaboration between the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishery Commission, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was to monitor 2007 outmigrant timing and survival of naturally reared Hanford Reach fall Chinook by tagging naturally reared fall Chinook on site at the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. PIT-tag release and detection information were used to assess outmigrant timing and survival and compare to previous years. Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags are a key tool for monitoring salmonid survival and movement in the Columbia River Basin (Prentice et al. 1990a, 1990b). These tags are implanted in fish and are both activated and read by an array that the fish
pass. PIT tag technology has become more widely used following construction of PIT tag detection arrays at juvenile bypass and adult passage facilities at Columbia River Basin dams (www.ptagis.org). Recently, PIT tag arrays have also been placed across the bottom of both large and small rivers. A web-based PIT-tag database (www.ptagis.org) facilitates automatic upload of data, providing near-real-time monitoring of individual fish during both juvenile and adult migrations. The increase in the number of PIT-tagged fish released and increased detection capability has combined to make PIT tags a powerful tool. PIT tags are commonly implanted in juveniles at hatcheries, smolt traps, and at juvenile bypass facilities at dams. The most widely used PIT tag (model TX1411SST) measures 12.5 mm SST x 2.1 mm. The Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority PIT Tag Steering Committee recommends that this length of tag be implanted in fish ≥65 mm fork length (CBFWA 1999) due to smaller PIT-tagged fish having increased vulnerability to predation and decreased swimming stamina (McCann et al. 1993) as well as a decreased interrogation rate of small fish at dams (Achord et al. 1993). This length requirement allows for the tagging of most outmigrating steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), coho (O. kisutch), sockeye (O. nerka), and yearling Chinook (O. tshawytscha) salmon smolts, but we have found that natural-origin subyearling Hanford Reach fall Chinook salmon >65 mm are difficult to capture, likely due to their rearing in deeper areas and/or beginning to migrate downstream prior to reaching this length. Indeed, previous PIT-tagging projects on the Hanford Reach have commonly tagged fish as small as about 55 mm. The inability to tag smaller fish has complicated efforts to PIT tag Hanford Reach fall Chinook salmon, which are the largest naturally-spawning salmon population in the Columbia Basin (Anglin et al. 2007). To obtain sufficient juvenile Hanford Reach fall Chinook salmon ≥65 mm requires sorting through large numbers of smaller fish and/or capturing fish in deeper water where capture is more difficult. Salmonids migrating from upstream are also more likely to be captured in deeper water, and since many of these upriver salmonids are listed as endangered species, this makes regulatory approval for tagging projects more difficult as well as raising the possibility of tagging some of these upriver migrants. In years of low abundance it would likely be impossible to capture sufficient numbers of ≥65 mm FL fish. In 2007, a new PIT tag, (Destron Fearing model TX148511B) that is only 8.5 mm in length (Figure 1) became available that promised detection at most sites nearly as good as the 12.5 mm SST TX1400ST tag which was the Columbia Basin standard through 20061. The TX148511B tag allows fish as short as 45 mm to be tagged (C. Rabe, Nez Perce Tribe, unpublished data).
1
This tag has since been replaced by the 12.5 mm SST TX1411SST which offers improved detection.
Figure 1. Comparison of size of 12.5 mm SST and 8.5 mm tags with typical sized juvenile fall Chinook salmon injected with each.
Juvenile Hanford Reach fall Chinook pass by detection sites at McNary, John Day, and Bonneville dams (Figure 2) and also are subject to detection in a towed array operated in the Columbia River estuary. Among these sites, the one site where the 12.5 mm SST tag was expected to have higher detection rates than the 8.5 mm tag was at the Bonneville Dam corner collector. The corner collector is the trash and ice sluiceway that was found to pass considerable numbers of juvenile fish and thus, prior to 2007, had modifications made to improve fish survival as well as being equipped with PIT tag detectors. At this collector, fish pass through a 16 foot wide antenna that is considerably wider than those at other sites. Fish passing through the Bonneville smolt bypass facility with the different tag types would be expected to have equal probability of detection.
Figure 2. The Columbia River showing the Hanford Reach, McNary, John Day, and Bonneville dams.
This project, scheduled to run for both 2007 and 2008, has three objectives. The first is to assess outmigrant timing and survival through the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) for Hanford Reach fall Chinook using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags. The second is to compare results for fish tagged with the two different tags in terms of tagging mortality, tag loss, and downstream migration timing and survival A third objective is to compile past data from juvenile fall Chinook salmon PIT tagged at the Hanford Reach and Priest Rapids Hatchery. This report discusses the first two objectives.
Study Area The Hanford Reach extends approximately 93km from Priest Rapids Dam to Richland, Washington, and is the largest un-impounded, non-tidal stretch of the Columbia River in the United States (Figure 3). Unlike most other fall Chinook salmon spawning areas in the Columbia Basin (Fulton 1968, Dauble and Watson 1997), this stretch has not been dammed nor had access blocked by dams. Human access to much of the area has been restricted since the 1940’s due to the development of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation for nuclear weapons development and the subsequent cleanup after weapons production ceased. An old boat ramp at the former Hanford town site was the base of operations for this project in 2007 (Figure 3).
Figure 3. The Columbia River, from Richland, WA to Priest Rapids dam (commonly referred to as the Hanford Reach).
Methods.
Fish Collection Fish were captured in conjunction with a coded wire tagging program run since 1987 by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (Fryer 2003). The goal of this project is to coded wire tag 200,000 juvenile fall Chinook salmon for use in monitoring ocean and in-river harvest rates. Pre-smolt salmon were collected by three crews of 3 to 4 persons working out of two 5.8 m to 6.4 m jet sleds. Fish are collected primarily upstream of the Hanford town site boat ramp to reduce the likelihood of re-capturing previously tagged fish. Fish were primarily captured with stick seines 11.0 m to 18.3 m long and 1.8 m deep with a mesh size of 4.8 mm. Sections of the river with moderate velocity and 0.3 to 1.4 m of depth are the target seining areas. The capture technique requires two persons pulling each end
the net and a third person walking through the shallow water adjacent to the net sweep but ahead of the net in an effort to scare juveniles out of the river bank area and into the net’s path. The net is moved with the current parallel to the river bank for distances of 25 m to 100 m before the net was pursed. Shorter sets are made when large numbers of juveniles were encountered or to avoid obstacles. The captured juvenile Chinook salmon were temporarily placed into 19 liter plastic buckets and then transferred to the holding tanks equipped with oxygen aeration systems in each boat. When either a full load of approximately 10,000 fish was reached, or about three hours had passed, the fish were transported to the tagging area at the old Hanford town site boat launch. Here they were transferred into three 0.9 m x 0.9 m x 4.9m fiberglass tanks with a pump providing a continuous water flow (Figure 1). Fish normally spend one or two nights in these holding tanks prior to tagging. Fish were anesthetized and graded by the tagging crew. For coded-wire tagging, fish were graded into four size groups; two of culls (less than 48 mm and greater than 80 mm, the latter being very rare) and two of fish to be coded-wire tagged (48-59 mm, and 60-80mm) which are tagged using different head mold sizes. These fish are then adipose clipped and coded wire tagged prior to being allowed to recover and released. We used these sorted (and adipose-clipped) fish for PIT tagging. The >60 mm and 48-60 mm groups were transported to the PIT tagging trailer in 19 liter buckets.
PIT tagging PIT Tags were inserted using standard techniques (CBFWA 1999) in a Biomark PIT tagging trailer equipped with a recirculating anesthetic system and flow-through fish holding tanks. One technician tagged the fish while second technician entered data while three to four others technicians disinfected, loaded tag injectors, and supported the operation. Subsequent to tagging, fish were held overnight and released back into the river the following morning. To test 8.5 mm tags, we planned to divide the 20,000 fish tagged into three groups: 1.) 10,000 fish >60 mm to be tagged with 12.5 mm SST tags which would be comparable to what has been tagged in previous years. 2.) 5,000 fish >60 mm to be tagged with 8.5 mm tags, allowing comparison with group (1). 3.) 5,000 fish
