Application of Otolith Chemistry to Investigate the Origin and State-straying of Steelhead in Lake Erie Tributaries

Budnik, Richard R.; Boehler, Christopher T.; Gagnon, Joel E.; Farver, John R.; Miner, Jeffrey G.

doi:10.1080/00028487.2017.1375981

Cited by 3 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Our results do not support the steelhead's reputation as having a high propensity for straying (Budnik et al. ; Richins and Skalski ). The mean stray rates at all scales were relatively low, and Chinook Salmon strayed at similar rates as steelhead at the scales that we examined.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 97%

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Stray Rates of Natural‐Origin Chinook Salmon and Steelhead in the Upper Columbia River Watershed

Pearsons

O'Connor

2020

Trans Am Fish Soc

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Despite the importance of straying in understanding the ecology of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. and steelhead O. mykiss, most of what is known about salmon and steelhead straying comes from tagged hatchery fish. We provide estimates of donor straying by natural‐origin spring, summer, and fall Chinook Salmon O. tshawytscha and summer steelhead at three spatial scales in the upper Columbia River watershed by using PIT tags. In total, 823,770 natural‐origin Chinook Salmon and steelhead were PIT‐tagged as juveniles in the Wenatchee, Entiat, Methow, and Okanogan River subbasins and tributaries and the upper Columbia River between 2002 and 2017. Anadromous adults with PIT tags (n = 2,611) were detected at a variety of antenna arrays in the Columbia River basin between 2004 and 2018. Mean donor stray rates of each population were less than 1% at the basin scale (range = 0.0–0.7%), less than 10% at the subbasin scale (range = 0.0–9.8%), and less than 15% at the tributary scale (range = 0.0–14.3%). Many of the populations (11 of 28) that were evaluated across all spatial scales did not have any strays detected, and the mean of means for both species’ stray rates at all spatial scales was generally less than 5% (range = 0.2–4.0%). Chinook Salmon and steelhead strayed at similar rates when originating from the same subbasins and tributaries. Most straying occurred in an upstream direction at the subbasin (84%) and tributary (94%) scales. Variation in stray rates was most consistently associated with spatial scale and location and was less than 15% for both species at all spatial scales.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 97%

“…Perhaps steelhead have received their reputation for straying based upon their wandering behavior before spawning and because most of what is known about steelhead straying comes largely from hatchery‐origin fish (Budnik et al. ; Richins and Skalski ). However, Westley et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stray Rates of Natural‐Origin Chinook Salmon and Steelhead in the Upper Columbia River Watershed

Pearsons

O'Connor

2020

Trans Am Fish Soc

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“…However, we cannot categorically conclude that the highest adult returns were specifically from stocked steelhead >150 mm, only that the highest adult returns occurred from the stocking group that contained the highest percentage of fish >150 mm. Budnik et al (2018) provided several hypotheses to explain the low contribution of adult New York-stocked steelhead in New York's Lake Erie tributaries, including comparatively large stocking numbers combined with rapid stream emigration by neighboring jurisdictions leading to poor imprinting, and high attraction of adult steelhead to odors from naturally produced steelhead in the New York tributaries. Each of these hypotheses infer that stray adult steelhead from other jurisdictions are attracted to and dominate the adult populations in New York's tributaries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the study area, the creek averages approximately 12 m in width, but it experiences extreme seasonal variability from torrential spring flows to almost nonexistent flows during the dry summer months. Chautauqua Creek is stocked annually with 40,000 yearling steelhead about 6.4 km upstream from the mouth, but it also supports detectable levels of naturally produced steelhead (Markham 2011;Budnik et al 2018). This stream was selected because it is one of New York's higher quality tributary fisheries on Lake Erie (Markham 2019), it has a high annual stocking allotment, and it is appropriate with respect to logistical and study design considerations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fishery is mostly generated by high levels of stocking, averaging 1.85 million yearlings annually lakewide (Coldwater Task Group 2020). Wild steelhead are found returning to Lake Erie's highest quality tributaries in low numbers (12-17%; Budnik et al 2018) and do not comprise a significant proportion of the overall lakewide population. Therefore, a robust stocking program remains essential for maintaining the fishery.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Influence of Steelhead Trout Stocking Size and Location on Emigration and Adult Returns

Markham

Robinson

2021

N American J Fish Manag

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Effective stocking programs are an essential part of maintaining most high-quality tributary steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss fisheries in the Great Lakes, requiring sufficient numbers of stocked fish to survive, imprint, and return as adults. New York's Lake Erie tributaries have long supported popular and economically important recreational steelhead fisheries, attracting anglers from across the country. Recent research has illustrated New York's dependence on "stray" steelhead from other jurisdictions, making New York fisheries vulnerable to other agencies' management decisions. We hypothesized that the limited contribution by New York-stocked steelhead was attributable to poor poststocking survival and imprinting due to the smaller stocking size relative to other Lake Erie jurisdictions. We took an experimental approach to describe how the combination of stocking size and within-stream stocking location interact to influence emigration and adult returns and identify mechanisms that may be driving these relationships, with the goal of identifying stocking strategies that improve adult returns. Stocked steelhead >150 mm total length emigrated from the stream by the end of May; small-size steelhead tended to remain in the stream and exhibited upstream migration. The residual population of steelhead lost body condition and likely experienced high mortality. Adult returns from large-size fish that were stocked 6.4 km upstream were 4.1 times greater than small-size fish stocked upstream and six times greater than fish stocked near the lake confluence (0.8 km upstream). We conclude that many of the steelhead stocked by New York are too small to imprint and emigrate, instead remaining as stream residents that experience poor survival and ultimately make minimal contributions to the adult fishery. Increases in the stocking size of New York steelhead coupled with stocking well upstream of the lake confluence would result in increased adult returns of New York-stocked fish to their streams of origin and improved fishery performance and resiliency.

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Adfluvial migration and passage of Steelhead before and after dam removal at a major Great Lakes tributary

Bunt,

Jacobson

2024

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Despite the importance of Great Lakes fisheries and the increasing popularity of dam removal as a method to restore river connectivity and increase fish passage, the adfluvial migration of Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) has been drastically understudied and only relatively few published studies have examined the impacts of dam removal on fish movement and timing. To help fill these knowledge gaps, spawning migrations of Great Lakes adfluvial Steelhead tagged in spring and fall were monitored for two years before and three years after removal of a dam that partially blocked upstream movement for 100 years. Removal of the dam not only reduced downstream delay and increased passage at the site of the dam removal itself, but increased travel speeds and increased passage at remaining upstream dams for both spring and fall run fish, underscoring the cumulative impact of successive dam passage on fish migration. Fall fish were most impacted by the dam removal and were able to pass not only the dam footprint, but, for the first time, were also able to pass both remaining upstream dams, allowing them to overwinter at locations closer to known spawning areas. For these fish, delay at the footprint was reduced from the order of 100+ days to < 1 hour and the number of days passage occurred compared to the number of days fish were present and blocked increased from 2% to 82%. The benefits of dam removal should ultimately equate to increases in fish production, as more critical habitat becomes reconnected and more fish are able to pass dams and arrive at spawning beds. The observation that fish are likely able to remain in better condition and retain more energy for continued migration and reproduction warrants further study.

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Application of Otolith Chemistry to Investigate the Origin and State-straying of Steelhead in Lake Erie Tributaries

Abstract: This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

Cited by 3 publications

References 75 publications

Stray Rates of Natural‐Origin Chinook Salmon and Steelhead in the Upper Columbia River Watershed

Stray Rates of Natural‐Origin Chinook Salmon and Steelhead in the Upper Columbia River Watershed

Influence of Steelhead Trout Stocking Size and Location on Emigration and Adult Returns

Adfluvial migration and passage of Steelhead before and after dam removal at a major Great Lakes tributary

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