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A Modified Box Trap Design for Sampling Emigrating Salmonid Smolts from Small Streams
Author(s) -
Roth Robert N.,
Orvos David R.
Publication year - 2006
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/m05-008.1
Subject(s) - streams , trap (plumbing) , environmental science , spring (device) , sampling (signal processing) , hydrology (agriculture) , fishery , juvenile , ecology , biology , geology , environmental engineering , engineering , computer science , geotechnical engineering , telecommunications , mechanical engineering , computer network , detector
A box trap was constructed and used to collect juvenile steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss in Spooner Creek, Erie County, New York, during the spring of 2000 and 2001. The trap was designed for use in streams with short waterfalls. It was utilized for approximately 70 d each spring and trapped 552 and 1,702 steelhead juveniles in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Approximately 5–75 steelhead per night were collected with negligible mortality, and streams were effectively sampled in discharges below 35 ft 3 /s. Trap efficiencies averaged 51% and 63% in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Problems were encountered during high‐water periods, as high water caused the trap to become submerged and useless once the windows were plugged with forest litter. However, these episodes were rare. The modified box trap design presented here proved effective in a variety of conditions and should provide fisheries scientists an effective tool for sampling juveniles in smaller streams.