Adult Pacific Lamprey Migration Behavior and Escapement in the Bonneville Reservoir and Lower Columbia River Monitored Using the Juvenile Salmonid Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS), 2011

Abstract

Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. Executive SummaryIn 2011, we continued our evaluation of the Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) for monitoring the migration and final fates of adult Pacific lampreys in Bonneville Reservoir and the Bonneville Dam tailrace, two areas with high unaccounted loss in past telemetry studies. We tagged adult Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) with Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) tags and half-duplex (HD) PIT tags and monitored their upstream passage and migration behaviors. Our objectives were to calculate lamprey travel times, to estimate escapement past the monitored sites, and to evaluate JSATS detection efficiency.We tagged 85 adult Pacific lamprey collected at Bonneville Dam with both JSATS and HD-PIT transmitters from 11 June through 3 September. We used two types of JSATS transmitters: a 60 day battery life type and a 400 day battery life type. All fish were trapped and tagged at the Adult Fish Facility at Bonneville Dam and were released at either the Hamilton Island boat ramp (rkm 232) in the Bonneville Dam tailrace or the Stevenson boat ramp (rkm 242.7) in Bonneville Reservoir. We deployed 16 JSATS autonomous receivers between Bonneville and The Dalles Dam tailraces, including one in the Klickitat River 300 m from the mouth. Receivers were deployed singly or in pairs as detection gates allowing us to calculate travel times and determine distribution and final fates for multiple reaches within Bonneville Reservoir.Estimated detection efficiencies for most of our acoustic receiver gates were 85% or greater, and release site receiver efficiencies ranged from 50% in the Bonneville Dam tailrace to 97% at Stevenson.The escapement estimate for lampreys released into the Bonneville Dam tailrace past the dam was 35%, lower than estimates from previous HD-PIT studies (41-53%). The escapement estimate from release in Bonneville Reservoir past The Dalles Dam (39%) was similar to that for HD-PIT tagged adults released to the Reservoir and was slightly lower than JSATS-tagged adults from 2010 (43%).Travel rates for tagged fish were highly variable and were much higher for reservoir than dam and tailrace reaches. Reservoir-released lamprey had a median travel time of 13.6 day...

Adult Pacific Lamprey Migration in the Lower Columbia River: 2011 Half-Duplex Pit Tag Studies

“…The results summarized in this report primarily address reach-scale and system-wide migration using HD-PIT detection data. Companion 2011 study reports provide results from lampreys tagged with acoustic transmitters (JSATS) and released both upstream and downstream from Bonneville Dam (Noyes et al 2012), behaviors of the HD-PIT tagged fish in and near Bonneville lamprey passage structures (Moser et al in review), and results from the pilot study using dual frequency identification sonar (DIDSON) to monitor adult lampreys inside and near fishways at Bonneville Dam (Johnson et al 2012b).…”

“…However, transmitter battery life has precluded spring-time monitoring and only a fraction of the lampreys that entered tributaries were likely detected. In 2011, the JSATS acoustic telemetry study that was companion research to this HD-PIT monitoring provides some additional reservoir use and tributary entry data (Noyes et al 2012).…”

“…The addition of HD-PIT monitoring sites in Fifteenmile Creek, some Deschutes River locations, and in the Snake River have reduced this information gap, as will planned HD-PIT installations at the Hood River and other tributary sites. The JSATS acoustic telemetry research, begun as a pilot in 2010 (Naughton et al 2011) and continued with a modest sample in 2011 (Noyes et al 2012) also has the potential to resolve some questions related to lamprey movement and distribution to spawning areas.…”

“…Detection Efficiency: Downstream Release Group -Efficiencies described in this section were based on HD-PIT data only (i.e., no records from double-tagged fish; see Noyes et al (2012) for additional details derived from lampreys double-tagged with HD-PIT tags and acoustic transmitters).…”

Effects of salinity on upstream-migrating, spawning sea lamprey,Petromyzon marinus

“…The anadromous sea lamprey’s upstream spawning migration can be divided into the following three distinct stages: (i) migration from the ocean to the estuary; (ii) pre-spawning holding in the estuary; and (iii) upstream movement within rivers and streams to spawning sites ( Applegate, 1950 ; Clemens et al , 2010 ). Given that barriers to progress on the spawning migration of lampreys present a potential conservation issue ( Renaud, 1997 ; Close et al , 2002 ; Lucas et al , 2009 ), the ability of migrants, which have no fidelity to natal streams ( Moser et al , 2015 ), to search out alternative rivers for spawning may be significant ( Kelso and Gardner, 2000 ; Noyes et al , 2013 ; Holbrook, 2015 ). However, in a number of studies it has been found that approximately half-strength seawater is lethal to upstream-migrating anadromous lampreys ( Galloway, 1933 ; Morris, 1956 ; Beamish et al , 1978 ).…”