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Compliance Monitoring of Yearling Chinook Salmon and Juvenile Steelhead Survival and Passage at Bonneville Dam, Spring 2011

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1049669· OSTI ID:1049669
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
The purpose of this compliance study was to estimate dam passage survival of yearling Chinook salmon and steelhead smolts at Bonneville Dam during spring 2011. Under the 2008 Federal Columbia River Power System Biological Opinion (BiOp), dam passage survival should be greater than or equal to 0.96 and estimated with a standard error (SE) less than or equal to 0.015. The study also estimated smolt passage survival from the forebay 2 km upstream of the dam to the tailrace 1 km below the dam, as well as the forebay residence time, tailrace egress, and spill passage efficiency, as required in the Columbia Basin Fish Accords. A virtual/paired-release design was used to estimate dam passage survival at Bonneville Dam. The approach included releases of acoustic-tagged smolts above Bonneville Dam that contributed to the formation of a virtual release at the face of the dam. A survival estimate from this release was adjusted by a paired release below Bonneville Dam. A total of 7692 yearling Chinook salmon and 7766 steelhead smolts were tagged and released during the study. The Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) tag model number ATS-156dB, weighing 0.438 g in air, was used in this investigation. The high flows during spring 2011 disrupted planned 100 kcfs spill operations at Bonneville Dam. Therefore, dam passage survival was estimated for the early part of the study (i.e., 30 April–13 May) when spill was about 100 kcfs and for the entire season, which included much higher spill levels from 18–31 May 2011.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1049669
Report Number(s):
PNNL--21175; 400403209
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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