ODFW Monitoring & Evaluation in Northeast OregonPIT Tag Technology

Life Cycle Comparative Survival Profile(BY 2000-05 adult -08 smolts)

Summer ParrMinam = 1210(32.7%)

Catherine = 902(24.4%)

Eggs3700

Tributary SmoltsEgg-Smolt Parr-Smolt

Minam=278(7.5%) Minam=23.0%Catherine=175(4.7%) Catherine=19.4%John Day=93(2.5%)

Ocean

Adult Spawners – SAR’sMinam=3.8(2.5% & 1.4%)

Catherine=0.8(1.1% & 0.5%) John Day=3.1(4.5% & 3.3%)

1st Dam SmoltsMinam=156(56.0%)

Catherine =73(41.8%)John Day=68(73.5%)Jacks

Trib to Adult1 st Dam to Adult

Wild Spring Chinook Life History Evaluation

• Population smolt abundance• John Day reference populations• Grande Ronde listed populations

• Freshwater productivity• Juvenile migration survival• SAR – ocean survival• Fishery predictions

Brood Year

1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

SA

R %

0

2

4

6

8

10ChinookSteelhead

Ocean Survival (SAR)

Redds

0 500 1000 1500 2000

Sm

olts

(10

3 )

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1978

2003

1981

1980

1982

1999

1979 2001

2000

2002

2004

1998

John Day River Wild Spring ChinookFreshwater Productivity

John Day River Adult ChinookFishery Predictions

Adult PIT Tag Expansion at Bonneville Dam

1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

John Day R

iver Basin R

edd Count

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

r2 = 0.77P = 0.002

Hatchery Chinook Adults: Bonneville Dam to “home”Return Year 2003-2011

Bonneville Dam PIT tag expansion

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Escap

em

ent E

stimate

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

Imnaha River 20,000 PIT tags 11-30% of releases tagged

R-squared = 0.856

Bonneville Dam PIT tag expansion

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Esca

pe

me

nt E

stima

te

0

1000

2000

3000

4000R-squared = 0.899

Lostine River 6,400 – 16,000 PIT tags 3-15% of releases tagged

WashingtonOregon

Lower Granite Dam

SnakeRiver

N

40 Kilometers

Gran

deRo

nde

River

CatherineCreek

Wallowa

RiverLostineRiver

Grande RondeValley

Juvenile Survival from Catherine Creek to Lower Granite Dam

Est

imat

ed s

urvi

val

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

Catherine Cr Rearing Area

(16 km)

Grande Ronde Valley (91 km)

Lower GrandeRonde R.(164 km)

Snake River(100 km)

Hatchery

Natural

Reach Specific Survival from Catherine Creek to Lower Granite Dam

Migration year

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Sm

olts

rel

eas

ed

(x1

000

)

0

50

100

150

200N

um

ber

con

sum

ed

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

Heron Predation of Hatchery Chinook Smolts

Mid-Columbia Steelhead Evaluation

• Population smolt abundance• Freshwater productivity• Juvenile migration survival• SAR – ocean survival• Adult spawner migration• Hatchery stray rates

Steelhead Run TimingCumulative Counts @ Bonneville

McNary Dam

BonnevilleDam

McDonaldFord

Ice Harbor Dam

Rock Island DamDeschutes River

John Day River Wild Adult Steelhead

Out-of-Basin Strays

John Day Origin

Bonneville Dam

McNary Dam

John Day River Adult SteelheadIn-stream PIT detections

Sep Nov Jan Mar May Jul Sep 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

John Day SteelheadN

um

ber

of D

etec

tions

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Stray Steelhead

McDonald Ford Antenna

Adult Steelhead Detections of Transport Study Groups2007-08 & 2008-2009 Run Years

Smolt Group

Bonneville Dam (N) John Day River Deschutes River

Hatchery Wild All Hatchery Wild % Hatchery Wild %

Barged2007-08

In-River 2007-08

918

151

343

77

1,261

228

29

1

17

0

3.6

0.4

64

1

10

0

5.9

0.4

Barged2008-09

In-River2008-09

1584

152

612

87

2196

239

23

0

15

0

1.7

0.0

144

4

40

0

8.4

1.6

CSS Hatchery Adult Steelhead Passage Between Bonneville Dam and Lower Granite Dam

z-testP < 0.00122% 33%

In-river Transported

Migration

Year

In-River Transport

# Adults

Failed # Adults

Failed

1999 188 27% 187 38%

2000 426 23% 55 36%

2001 10 20% 29 41%

2002 347 20% 14 14%

2003 208 19% 109 21%

2004 61 28% 16 38%

Combined 1240 22% 410 33%

Stray Rates Into the John Day for Transported and In-River Migrants

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

2007-08 H 2007-08 wild 2008-09 H 2008-09 wild

Transport

In-River

Run Year

%

Wallowa Stock Steelhead Fishery EvaluationWallowa Stock Steelhead Fishery Evaluation

Wallowa HatcheryWallowa HatcheryJosephJoseph

La GrandeLa GrandeUnionUnion

TroyTroy

Objectives

• Create a new hatchery line from Wallowa stock returning to Grande Ronde in autumn. Autumn Line may stray less and improve the autumn fishery.

• Compare performance of Autumn Line with the standard Wallowa Stock.

Is smolt outmigration survival similar? Does the Autumn Line return earlier? Are smolt-to-adult survival rates similar? Does the Autumn Line stray at a lower rate?

McNary

Lower Granite

7/1 8/5 9/9 10/14 11/18 12/22

WEEK ENDING

PERC

ENT

RECO

VERE

D

Bonneville AUTUMN LINESTANDARD STOCK

510152025

05

10152025

510152025

Average Adult Steelhead Return Timing(run years 2006-2010)

Smolt-to-Adult Survival to Bonneville Dam

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

BROOD YEAR

PERC

ENT

SURV

IVAL

Autumn line, F1 generation

Standard stock

68 50 69 62 65 47 211 326 66 82

Autumn line, F2 generation

(significantly different, P = 0.004)

PIT Tag TechnologyWhat have we learned?

VSP measures• Life stage survival• Freshwater productivity• Ocean survival• Hatchery fraction• Life history designation

Management solutions• In season fishery predictions• Developed a new hatchery stock• Hatchery strays• Migration corridor contributes significant mortality

– Juveniles– Adult steelhead wandering

• Freshwater survival is still limiting– John Day vs. Grande Ronde Chinook