Kootenai River White Sturgeon Investigations, 1993 Annual Report.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in concordance with Bonneville Power Administration provided a release of 324.3 m{sup 3}/s (400,000 acre feet) of impounded water from Lake Koocanusa, Montana from June 2 to June 16, 1993. This release of water provided approximately 566.4 m{sup 3}/s (20,000 cfs) discharge in the Kootenai River at Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Nineteen adult white sturgeon equipped with combinations of radio and sonic transmitters were monitored from mid-April to mid-July, 1993. Nine females and one male remained in the Kootenai River near the British Columbia/Idaho border and/or Kootenay Lake, British Columbia. One female was captured by the crew from the Kootenai Hatchery, operated by the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, delivered to the hatchery, tagged, and released seven days later. She retreated to Kootenay Lake immediately after release. Eight sturgeon with transmitters formed the aggregate of unknown numbers of fish in the staging area. The monitored fish were all judged late vitellogenic and were used to characterize what was assumed reproductive behavior of white sturgeon in the Kootenai River. Four late vitellogenic females moved upriver with the lowland spring runoff (May 11), lingered around the ''staging area'' May 11-24, then retreated downriver May 21-24. Two fish retreated all the way to Kootenay Lake, British Columbia; the other two re-advanced upriver May 27-30 concurrent with the initiation of the augmented discharge on May 28. None of the monitored fish were detected beyond the U.S. Highway 95 bridge. By June 4, the remaining females began moving downriver. Male sturgeon tended to move upriver seven days earlier than the females. They arrived in staging waters about May 11. On May 21, three male sturgeon demonstrated a slight downriver run the same time as did the females. The maximum downriver travel was 14.2 km. All four of the monitored males returned upriver just prior to and during the augmented flow period. Crews fished a combined 14,714 hours with three types of gear designed to sample white sturgeon eggs and larvae. Three eggs (one fertilized, one dead, and one unfertilized) diagnosed as white sturgeon were collected in the vicinity of the highway bridge at Bonners Ferry. All were collected within a few days after the retreat of monitored females. The presence of unfertilized or dead eggs can not verify spawning. Thus the catch rate for one sturgeon egg from all sampling gear was 0.00002 eggs/h. The flow test did not produce any known recruitment to the diminishing white sturgeon population.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Bonneville Power Administration
- DOE Contract Number:
- 1988BP93497
- OSTI ID:
- 878244
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/BP-93497-5a; TRN: US200611%%76
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Kootenai River White Sturgeon Investigations and Experimental Culture, 1990-1991 Annual Report.
Kootenai River White Sturgeon Investigation, 1994 Annual Report.