Summer movements of juvenile salmonids in the Upper Chehalis

Summer movements of juvenile salmonids in the Upper Chehalis River

John WinkowskiMara Zimmerman

Washington Department of Fish and WildlifeChehalis Basin Technical Meeting, September 22, 2015

Key questions for juvenile salmonids

• Do fish use the dam site?• When do fish use the site?• What direction are the fish coming from? • How far are fish coming from?

Cascade

Recap of 2013 – what we learned• Juvenile salmonids move upstream and downstream

through the dam location throughout the summer• Individual fish move into tributaries from mainstem • Individual fish move upstream in early morning and

downstream in early evening

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Key questions for juvenile salmonids

• Do fish use the dam site? YES• When do fish use the site? ALL SUMMER• What direction are the fish coming from? • How far are fish coming from?

Study design - 2014

Dam site/PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

14 km

• Do fish use the dam site?• When do fish use the site?• What direction are the fish coming from?• How far are fish coming from?

Fish species studied in 2014

• Juvenile steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss)• Juvenile Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)

How are juvenile fish using the potentially impacted area during summer low flows?

• Do fish use the dam site?• When do fish use the site?• What direction are the fish coming from?• How far are fish coming from?

Do fish use the dam site? YESChinook O. mykiss

Distance (km) Tagged % detected Tagged % detected

7.5 0 NA 24 45.7 67 64 45 203.7 14 7 29 281.9 28 18 69 160.4 43 70 32 69

-0.4 49 6 90 93-1.4 28 0 51 0-3.6 52 0 24 4-5.5 43 0 49 8-7.3 35 0 17 6

Total 359 23 % 430 33 %

1) Fish are using the dam site2) Percentages of fish detected gives us

confidence to draw inferences from data

How are juvenile fish using the potentially impacted area during summer low flows?

• Do fish use the dam site?• When do fish use the site?• What direction are the fish coming from?• How far are fish coming from?

When do fish use the dam site? Throughout summer months

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X

How are juvenile fish using the potentially impacted area during summer low flows?

• Do fish use the dam site?• When do fish use the site?• What direction are the fish coming from?• How far are fish coming from?

• Detected ~ Direction + Distance + Length + Condition + Direction:Distance + Direction:Length + Direction:Condition,

family=binomial

O. mykiss: what factors predict arrival at dam site?

glm(), aictab()

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

Detected (y/n) ~ Direction + Distance + Condition + Direction:Distance +

Direction:Condition

Detected (y/n) ~ Direction + Distance + Condition + Direction:Distance + Direction:Condition

If tagged upstream, more fish detected from farther away

If tagged downstream, less fish detected from farther away

Detected (y/n) ~ Direction + Distance + Condition + Direction:Distance + Direction:Condition

If tagged upstream, no influence of fish condition

If tagged downstream, most detections were fish in poor condition

Chinook: What factors predict arrival?

Most Chinook moved downstream, not upstream

Chinook: what factors predict arrival at dam site?

• Upstream tagged fish only• Detected ~ Distance + Length + Condition

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

Distance, Length, Condition did NOT improve prediction of which tagged Chinook moved

downstream

How long between tagging and first detection?

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

• Time to first detection ~ Direction + Distance + Length + Condition +

Direction:Distance + Direction:Length + Direction:Condition,

family = Gamma

O. mykiss: How long between tagging and first detection?

glm(), aictab()

O. mykiss tagged downstream arrived quicker than O. mykiss tagged upstream

Chinook: How long between tagging and first detection?

• Chinook tagged upstream only• Time to first detection ~ Distance + Length +

Condition

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

Distance, Length, Condition did NOT improve prediction of when tagged Chinook moved

downstream

Summary• Usage of the dam site occurred throughout

summer low flow period• Juvenile salmonids arrived from distances up to

7 km• Juvenile salmonids upstream of dam site

behave differently than fish downstream

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

Summary – O. mykiss• O. mykiss arrived from both an upstream and

downstream direction• O. mykiss from downstream were in poorer condition

and arrived quickly during study period• O. mykiss from upstream arrived over an extended

period of time regardless of condition

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

Summary Chinook• Chinook arrived from upstream but not from

downstream• Arrival of Chinook was not dependent on

distance or fish characteristics

Dam site PIT array

UpstreamDownstream

Connectivity footprint

Discussion• Dam site is an important migration corridor

during summer low flow periods• For 2 years, we’ve documented extensive movements

throughout the summer

• Benefits of horizontal migrations in upper Chehalis are unknown

Restoration implications

• Factors that restore river connectivity (e.g., dam and culvert removal) are important

• The scale of restoration and protection actions is important

• Restoration question: restore continuous reach vs. multiple smaller reaches?

Acknowledgements• West Fork Environmental, Weyerhaeuser,

Panesko Tree Farm • Fish Ecology and Life Cycle Monitoring Unit:

Thomas Buehrens, Kale Bentley, Patrick Hanratty, Trevor Johnson, Jamie Lamperth

• Ben Truscott (WDFW)• Funding: Washington State legislature• WDFW technicians: Richard Visser II, Matthew Hobin,

Amy Edwards, Noelia Ragland, Riley Freeman, Brianna Murphy, Eric Walther

Juvenile salmonid movements during summer low flows

Discussion

• Challenges the previous idea that juvenile salmonids maintain relatively small home-ranges during summer months

• What factors are contributing to these movements (i.e. temperature)?

Downstream/upstream tagging sitesDownstream Upstream

Tagging

Interrogation period

X

Smaller Chinook took longer to arrive than larger Chinook