Hood Canal Steelhead Acoustic Telemetry Studies

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Hood Canal Steelhead Acoustic Telemetry Studies

• Barry Berejikian and Skip Tezak
• NOAA Fisheries
• Northwest Fisheries Science Center
• Manchester Research Station

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Hood Canal steelhead

• Historically abundant
• Chronically depressed since mid-late 80s
• Some indications of a north-south productivity
  gradient
• Limiting factors potential role of
  supplementation

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The problem
Data from http//wdfw.wa.gov/fish/sassi/intro.htm
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Can supplementation improve productivity of
natural populations?
?
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2005 Hood Canal Steelhead Study

• 50 Hatchery reared steelhead
• (Hamma Hamma River)
• Weight 48.9 129 g
• Length 173-233 mm (FL)
• V8 6L Tags provided and
• implanted by POST
• Tagged 5/13/05
• Released 5/23/05

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2005 Results Summary
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2005 Hood Canal Steelhead Study
N
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Travel time
4.6 d (0.8 d) 1.2 2.0 blps
12.8 d (10.7 d) 0.1 - 0.5 blps
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Migratory pathway
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2006 Hood Canal Steelhead Study (Proposed)

• H01 Hood Canal steelhead populations do not
  differ in early marine survival (river mouth to
  north end of Hood Canal, and Hood Canal to
  Straits of Juan de Fuca and Georgia).
• H02 Hood Canal steelhead populations do not
  show a preference for nearshore vs. open water
  migration routes through Hood Canal.
• H03 Steelhead individuals and populations
  inhabiting the nearshore environment spend a
  similar amount of time in eelgrass habitat and
  adjacent non-eelgrass habitats.
• H04 Individual steelhead characteristics
  outmigration timing, length, weight, and
  condition factor do not affect rate of migration,
  habitat use, or stage-specific survival.

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2006 Hood Canal Steelhead Study Design

• Three populations (Hamma
• Hamma R., Skokomish R.,
• Big Beef Creek)
• 50 Wild smolts per population
• V9 Vemco Tags
• Two complete listening lines
• (Hood Canal Bridge and
• mid-Canal)

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Collaborators

• Army Corps of Engineers
• Hood Canal Coordinating Council
• Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group
• Jamestown SKlallam Tribe
• Kintama Research Corp./POST
• Long Live the Kings
• Northwest Fisheries Science Center
• Point No Point Treaty Council
• Skokomish Tribe
• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• University of Washington