Upstream migration in the Columbia River Basin: Lessons learned from two decades of adult

salmon and steelhead radiotelemetry projects

Matthew Keefer1, Charles Boggs1, Chris Caudill1, Brian Burke2, Tami Clabough1, Travis Dick1, Kinsey Frick2, Mike Jepson1, Dan

Joosten1, Steve Lee1, George Naughton1, & Chris Peery3

1 Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences

University of Idaho

2 Northwest Fisheries Science Center

3 US Fish & Wildlife Service

Funding!

Acknowledgments

Presentation objectives • 1) Introduce the Columbia River adult salmon

and steelhead project • 2) Examples of research questions and results

– Gross simplifications of complex animal behavior

Anadromous Fish Evaluation Program (AFEP): Adult studies

Research

Monitor Evaluate

‘Action’

Adaptive Management

“Piggyback Science” opportunity

Basic research

Applied research

Hendy Mp

Anadromous Fish Evaluation Program (AFEP): Adult studies

A B

C D

Operations: upstream & downstream passage

Fishway modifications Sea lion management

En route & prespawn mortality

Reach & migration survival, harvest

HOME ?

Straying

Methods: fish collection

Bonneville Dam

OR

WA

Adult Fish

Facility (AFF)

Fishway: dewatered Fish ladder

Trap holding pool

AFF

• 1996-2014: 26,876 radio-tagged adults – 11,505 spring-summer Chinook salmon – 7,856 summer steelhead – 6,139 fall Chinook salmon – 1,376 sockeye salmon

Methods: sample summary

Summer steelhead

Summer Chinook salmon

Intragastric radio tagging

Methods: Monitoring / Study area

Bonneville The Dalles

John Day McNary

Ice Harbor

Priest Rapids

Lower Monumental

Little Goose

Lower Granite Wanapum

• ~180 antenna sites / year • Tailraces, fishways at ~8-10 dams • Most major tributaries

– Including Snake & Upper Columbia river sites

SNAKE R.

COLUMBIA R.

Examples of study questions & results

1997 1998 2000 2001 2002 1997 2000 2001 2002 1997 2013 2014

Pass

ed d

am (%

)

88

90

92

94

96

98

100

102

Fishway & dam passage • Do adults successfully pass dams?

Columbia & Snake River Dam fishways effectively

pass most adult salmonids

98%

Bonneville Dam passage efficiency

• The Dalles Dam passage efficiency

1997 1998 2000 2001 2002 1997 2000 2001 2002 1997 2013 2014Pa

ssed

dam

(%)

88

90

92

94

96

98

100

102

Fishways & dam passage

98%

Some dam passage ‘failure’ associated with

fish orientation and downstream harvest

Tributary ‘overshoot’

• Do dams ‘delay’ upstream migration?

Fishways & dam passage

CJFAS 64:979-995 (2007)

Most adults pass dams quickly (Medians ≤ 1 day), but times are

highly variable & many fish must pass 8-9 dams

Many salmon pass through reservoirs at speeds of 50-75 km/d, likely offsetting some ‘delay’ at dams

1 day

CJFAS 62:930-949 (2005)

100 km

System-wide escapement • How many survive to potential spawning sites?

Sp-Su Chinook Steelhead Fa Chinook

~73% ‘escape’

~61% ~62%

~ 12-17% with unknown fate

along migration corridor

~ 8-22% reported harvested along

migration corridor

Start! SNAKE R.

COLUMBIA R.

Columbia River temperature oC

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Con

vers

ion

prob

abili

ty

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

System-wide escapement • What affects migration survival?

Temperature (C) at Bonneville Dam14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Prob

abili

ty o

f sur

viva

l

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0Probability5% CI95% CI

Sockeye salmon survival to tributaries

CJFAS 62:30-47 (2005)

Sp-Su Chinook salmon survival past 4 dams

Substantially reduced survival for some stocks exposed to

warm water temperatures

System-wide escapement • What affects migration survival?

WARM WATER HITTING RETURNING SOCKEYE HARD: NOAA SAYS MAYBE 80 PERCENT MORTALITY FOR UPPER COLUMBIA Friday, July 31, 2015

UPPER COLUMBIA SOCKEYE SEARCHING FOR COOLER WATER FOUND DEAD, DISTRESSED IN DESCHUTES RIVER MOUTH Friday, July 10, 2015

2015: exceptionally warm water

250,000-400,000 Sockeye mortalities

Number of fallback events

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Perc

ent (

%)

0

2

4

6

8

10

Perc

ent (

%)

0

2

4

6

8

10

In-riverBarged

A) Chinook salmon

B) Steelhead

System-wide escapement • What affects migration success?

Juvenile transport barge

Barged Chinook salmon: ~3.4 times more likely to

fall back at dams as adults

Barged steelhead: ~1.7 times more likely to

fall back at dams

Barged fish had reduced survival to the Snake River (~ 10%)

Barging impairs adult orientation: - Increased fallback at dams

- Increased permanent straying

Downstream fallback 16 fallback events 24 dam passages

~ 3,200 km

Volitional and non-volitional fallback is common: 15-21% of each run

Results in reduced survival (1-4% impact) for each run

Key challenge: minimize fallback risks while providing safe routes

for ‘overshoot’ fish and kelts

Archival tags: temperature & depth

Please see poster in: ‘Conserving cool- and cold-

water fish’ symposium

CJFAS 66:1731-1747 (2009)

Pinniped predation • How do predators affect

salmon behavior, survival? • Does impact vary among

ESA-listed populations?

CJFAS 68:1615-1624 (2011)

MNBC

ODFW

Pinniped predation

Early-timed Chinook salmon at high risk

Population-specific migration timing

& abundance

Predation risk

Several ESA-listed populations in the Snake and upper

Columbia river basins

J Jensen

+ Observed sea lion predation rates

Inter-population variability

Population timing sequences are stable within species &

within life history types

River & Ocean environment predictably

influence run timing

Flow Temperature

Fall Chinook

composition

Inter-population variability

CJFAS 66:1734-1747 (2009)

Warm-water exposure & thermoregulation vary widely among steelhead populations

‘Late’ steelhead far more likely to overwinter in

Hydrosystem reservoirs

Steelhead release date

1 Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sep 1 Oct 1 Nov

Pre

dict

ed p

roba

bilit

y of

ove

rwin

terin

g

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

Steelhead timing

Main stem overwintering

Looking ahead. . . . • Continue adaptive management, advisory role • Data synthesis

– Prioritizing adult passage and survival issues – ‘Post-reactionary’ summaries

• Maximize the value of this remarkable dataset!

Hendy Mp