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Homing in Sockeye and Chinook Salmon Transported around Part of Their Smolt Migration Route in the Columbia River
Author(s) -
Chapman D.,
Carlson C.,
Weitkamp D.,
Matthews G.,
Stevenson J.,
Miller M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(1997)017<0101:hisacs>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - chinook wind , oncorhynchus , homing (biology) , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , fish migration , environmental science , biology , ecology
We evaluated homing efficiency of adult Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. that had been transported as smolts around portions of their migration route in the Columbia River. We captured smolts of sockeye salmon O. nerka and spring chinook salmon O. tshawytscha at Priest Rapids and Wanapum dams and released marked control groups at the left bank of the Columbia River, just downstream from Priest Rapids Dam (river kilometer, rkm, 639 from the mouth of the river). In 1984–1986, we transported marked sockeye and chinook salmon smolts in trucks to the river edge downstream from Bonneville Dam (rkm 205). In 1987–1988, we compared truck transport of sockeye salmon with combined transport by truck to McNary Dam (rkm 467) and by barge from McNary Dam to the middle of the river downstream from Bonneville Dam. We compared ratios of transported to control Pacific salmon observed as adults at Bonneville Dam (2.55 for sockeye salmon, 2.43 for chinook salmon) and at Priest Rapids Dam (1.29 for sockeye salmon, 0.85 for chinook salmon). Relatively more transported fish than controls used the Bonneville right‐bank ladder. Bonneville and Priest Rapids ratios were 2.55 and 1.80 for sockeye salmon and 2.43 and 2.25 for chinook salmon. Control sockeye salmon tended to use the Priest Rapids left‐bank ladder (one of two ladders) more than transported fish. To evaluate homing between Bonneville and Priest Rapids, we compared transport and control numbers for adult Pacific salmon jaw‐tagged at Bonneville Dam with numbers of jaw‐tagged fish recovered at Priest Rapids Dam. Observed numbers of sockeye and chinook salmon did not differ significantly from expected numbers, except for sockeye salmon for combined years and treatments when we included the combined transport (truck and barge) groups. Observed numbers of transport and control jaw‐tagged adults did not differ significantly from expected numbers for sockeye or chinook salmon observed or tagged at Priest Rapids Dam and recovered in spawning areas. Jaw‐tagged sockeye adults transported as smolts took longer to reach Priest Rapids Dam in 2 of 5 years and chinook adults in 1 of 3 years. Jaw‐tagged sockeye and chinook salmon adults in transported groups fell back across Bonneville Dam more than control adults, and sockeye salmon transported solely in trucks fell back more than those transported by barge. Migration delay in some years and recoveries of transport and control fish for all years and treatments combined suggest that transportation impaired homing of adult sockeye salmon between Bonneville and Priest Rapids dams. We found no impaired homing in sockeye or chinook salmon between Priest Rapids Dam and spawning areas.