Comparative Survival [Rate] Study (CSS); Design and Analysis, 2002 Technical Report.
- EcoLogical Research, Providence, UT
- Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Boise, ID
- US Fish and Wildlife Service, Columbia River Program Office, Vancouver, WA
Fisheries agencies and tribes have developed a multi-year program, the Comparative Survival Study (CSS), to obtain information to be used in monitoring and evaluating the impacts of the mitigation measures and actions (e.g., flow augmentation, spill, and transportation) under NMFS' Biological Opinion to recover listed stocks. Through 2001, the CSS has utilized PIT tagged yearling hatchery chinook that were tagged specifically for the CSS and PIT tagged wild chinook from all available marking efforts in the Snake River basin above Lower Granite Dam. We selected hatchery programs that would allow the opportunity to mark sufficient numbers of smolts to give enough returning adult fish that statistically rigorous smolt-to-adult survival rates could be computed. Since the CSS inception, hatchery fish that have consistently been used include spring/summer chinook tagged at McCall, Rapid River, Dworshak, and Lookingglass (Imnaha stock) hatcheries. The CSS has also included a group of spring chinook from Carson Hatchery in the lower Columbia River for planned upstream/downstream comparison. The wild stocks included chinook PIT tagged as parr (summer/fall tagging season) and smolts (spring tagging season) in each major tributary above Lower Granite Dam. Future years will see the CSS add wild and hatchery steelhead in the Snake River basin, hatchery steelhead in the Mid-Columbia River basin, hatchery yearling chinook in the Mid-Columbia River basin, and wild chinook in John Day River in the lower Columbia River. Each PIT (passive integrated transponder) tag has a unique code. The tags are glass encapsulated, 11 mm in length, and implanted into the fish's underbelly by a syringe. All attempts are made to make the PIT tagged fish as representative of their untagged cohorts as possible. At trapping sites, sampling and tagging occur over the entire migration season. At hatcheries, fish to tag are obtained across as wide a set of ponds and raceways as possible to allow effective representation of production. Tag loss and mortality is monitored, and the tagging files are then uploaded to the regional PTAGIS database. The PIT tags are read as the fish pass through the coils of the detector. For detection of smolts, there are detectors installed at six Snake and Columbia River dams, including Lower Granite (LGR), Little Goose (LGS), Lower Monumental (LMN), McNary (MCN), John Day (JDA), and Bonneville (BON). These site abbreviations will be used throughout this document. For detection of returning adults, there is current detection capability at LGR, and starting in migration year 2002, PIT tagged adults will be detected at both BON and MCN.
- Research Organization:
- Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, OR (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- 00006203
- OSTI ID:
- 818854
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/BP-00006203-3; TRN: US200322%%230
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 10 Apr 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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