Dworshak Dam Impacts Assessment and Fisheries Investigation Project: Kokanee Entrainment Losses at Dworshak Reservoir, 1996 Annual Progress Report.

We used split-beam hydroacoustics to monitor kokanee Oncorhynchus nerka kennerlyi abundance in Dworshak Reservoir from 1995 to 1996 in order to quantify the impacts of water releases from Dworshak Dam. The kokanee population was at a record high level of 1.9 million age-1 and age-2 fish (350 fish/ha) during June 1995. Large discharges of water during July and August of 1995 did not result in major losses of kokanee. Mid-winter flooding in February. March, and April of 1996: however, caused entrainment losses of 90% of all kokanee in the reservoir. The population declined to 140,000 kokanee. High flows during spring runoff used another 50% of the kokanee to be lost, further reducing the population to 71,000 fish (13 fish/ha). Entrainment losses were partially explainable by the distribution of kokanee in the reservoir. During winter, all age-classes of kokanee congregated near the dam making them susceptible to high releases of water. Kokanee appeared to be less susceptible to entrainment during summer and early fall because most kokanee were in other parts of the reservoir: adults were in the upper reservoir staging to spawn, fry were in the upper reservoir having emerged from tributary streams, and juvenile kokanee were spread throughout the reservoir