The PNAMP Fish Monitoring Work Group (FMWG), meets quarterly to update participants on current FMWG tasks, share expertise through presentations on innovative fish monitoring, and provides you with opportunities to engage regional managers and experts. These meetings are an opportune time to discuss tasks and get input from members on where they see importance or could use facilitated support. The FMWG is also interested in your work; if you would like to present your innovative fish monitoring ideas or any recent publications at a future meeting please contact Meg Dethloff, mdethloff@usgs.gov

Tech Talk: WATCH RECORDING

Migration Patterns of John Day River Adult Steelhead

Ian Tattam, John Day Research Project Leader for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. A large proportion of summer steelhead from the John Day River, Oregon “overshoot” the John Day River confluence with the Columbia River and ascend McNary Dam (119 km upstream of the John Day River confluence).  Approximately 60% of John Day River origin steelhead display this straying behavior, which may be temporary, but is also associated with permanent straying of some individuals. High levels of straying could be detrimental to the abundance and viability of the John Day River “source” populations. In addition to the risk of straying, and hence, complete loss of reproduction in the John Day basin, fallback over Columbia River hydrosystem dams may increase mortality of adult steelhead. In this study we examined overshoot and fallback of John Day River summer steelhead by characterizing adult migration patterns upstream of Bonneville Dam with emphasis on the John Day River confluence; and identifying key thermal refuge areas downstream of the John Day River. In order to achieve these objectives, we acoustic tagged 200 wild adult summer steelhead and deployed 35 acoustic receivers between Bonneville and Priest Rapids dams on the Columbia River.

Agenda

• 10:00 – Welcome and Introductions
• 10:05 – Task Updates
• 10:20 – Tech Talk
• 11:10 – Q&A
• 11:30 – Adjourn

Missed a previous FMWG meeting? Check out our YouTube page for presentations or task meetings.