Register      Login
Marine and Freshwater Research Marine and Freshwater Research Society
Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Evaluation of a floating fish guidance structure at a hydrodynamically complex river junction in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, California, USA

Jason G. Romine A E , Russell W. Perry A , Adam C. Pope A , Paul Stumpner B , Theresa L. Liedtke A , Kevin K. Kumagai C and Ryan L. Reeves D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A US Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center, 5501-A Cook Underwood Road, Cook, WA 98605, USA.

B US Geological Survey, California Water Science Center, 8550 23rd Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95826, USA.

C Hydroacoustic Technology, Inc., 715 NE Northlake Way, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.

D California Department of Water Resources, Bay-Delta Office, 1416 9th Street, Room 215-37, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA.

E Corresponding author. Present address: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 64 Maple Street, Burbank, WA 99323, USA. Email: jason_romine@fws.gov

Marine and Freshwater Research 68(5) 878-888 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF15285
Submitted: 30 July 2015  Accepted: 1 May 2016   Published: 20 July 2016

Abstract

Survival of out-migrating juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta, California, USA, varies by migration route. Survival of salmonids that enter the interior and southern Delta can be as low as half that of salmonids that remain in the main-stem Sacramento River. Reducing entrainment into the higher-mortality routes, such as Georgiana Slough, should increase overall survival. In spring 2014, a floating fish-guidance structure (FFGS) designed to reduce entrainment into Georgiana Slough was deployed just upstream of the Georgiana Slough divergence. We used acoustic telemetry to evaluate the effect of the FFGS on Chinook entrainment to Georgiana Slough. At intermediate discharge (200–400 m3 s–1), entrainment into Georgiana Slough was five percentage points lower when the FFGS was in the on state (19.1% on; 23.9% off). At higher discharge (>400 m3 s–1), entrainment was higher when the FFGS was in the on state (19.3% on; 9.7% off), and at lower discharge (0–200 m3 s–1) entrainment was lower when the FFGS was in the on state (43.7% on; 47.3% off). We found that discharge, cross-stream fish position, time of day, and proportion of flow remaining in the Sacramento River contributed to the probability of being entrained to Georgiana Slough.


References

Akaike, H. (1973). Information theory and the extension of the maximum likelihood principle. In ‘International Symposium on Information Theory’. (Eds B. N. Petrov and F. Csaki.) pp. 267–281. (Academiai Kaido: Budapest.)

Buchanan, R. A., Skalski, J. R., Brandes, P. L., and Fuller, A. (2013). Route use and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon through the San Joaquin River delta. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 33, 216–229.
Route use and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon through the San Joaquin River delta.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Burnham, K. P., and Anderson, D. R. (2002). ‘Model Selection and Multimodel Inference: a Practical Information-Theoretic Approach’, 2nd edn. (Springer: New York.)

Chapman, E., Hearn, A., Michel, C., Ammann, A., Lindley, S., Thomas, M., Sandstrom, P., Singer, G., Peterson, M., MacFarlane, R. B., and Klimley, A. P. (2013). Diel movements of out-migrating Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts in the Sacramento/San Joaquin watershed. Environmental Biology of Fishes 96, 273–286.
Diel movements of out-migrating Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts in the Sacramento/San Joaquin watershed.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Connors, K. B., Scruton, D., Brown, J. A., and McKinley, R. S. (2002). The effects of surgically-implanted dummy radio transmitters on the behavior of wild Atlantic salmon smolts. Hydrobiologia 483, 231–237.
The effects of surgically-implanted dummy radio transmitters on the behavior of wild Atlantic salmon smolts.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Faber, D. M., Ploskey, G. R., Weiland, M. A., Deng, D., Hughes, J. S., McComas, R. L. Kim, J., Townsend, R. L., Fu, T., Skalski, J. R., and Fischer, E. S. (2010). Evaluation of a behavioral guidance structure at Bonneville Dam second powerhouse including passage survival of juvenile salmon and steelhead using acoustic telemetry, 2008. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.

Haro, A., Odeh, M., Noreika, J., and Castro-Santos, T. (1998). Effect of water acceleration on downstream migratory behavior and passage of Atlantic salmon smolts and juvenile American shad at surface bypasses. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 127, 118–127.
Effect of water acceleration on downstream migratory behavior and passage of Atlantic salmon smolts and juvenile American shad at surface bypasses.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Hosmer, D. W., and Lemeshow, S. (2000). ‘Applied Logistic Regression.’ (Wiley: New York.)

Jepsen, N., Davis, L. E., Schreck, C. B., and Siddens, B. (2001). The physiological response of Chinook salmon smolts to two methods of radio-tagging. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 130, 495–500.
The physiological response of Chinook salmon smolts to two methods of radio-tagging.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Johnson, G. E., Anglea, S. M., Adams, N. S., and Wik, T. O. (2005). Evaluation of a prototype surface flow bypass for juvenile salmon and steelhead at the powerhouse of Lower Granite Dam, Snake River, Washington, 1996–2000. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 25, 138–151.
Evaluation of a prototype surface flow bypass for juvenile salmon and steelhead at the powerhouse of Lower Granite Dam, Snake River, Washington, 1996–2000.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Kock, T. J., Liedtke, T. L., Ekstrom, B. K., Tomka, R. G., and Rondorf, D. W. (2012). Behavior and passage of juvenile salmonids during the evaluation of a behavioral guidance structure at Cowlitz Falls Dam, Washington, 2011. US Geological Survey open-file report 2012-1030. Available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1030/ [Verified 16 June 2015].

Liedtke, T. L., and Wargo-Rub, M. A. (2012) Techniques for telemetry transmitter attachment and evaluation of transmitter effects on fish performance. In ‘Telemetry Techniques: a User’s Guide for Fisheries Research’. (Eds N. H. Adams, J. W. Beeman and J. H. Eiler.) pp. 45–87. (American Fisheries Society: Bethesda, MD.)

Liedtke, T. L., Beeman, J. W., and Gee, L. P. (2012). A standard operating procedure for the surgical implantation of transmitters in juvenile salmonids. US Geological Survey open-file report 2012-1267. Available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2012/1267 [Verified 16 June 2015].

Mulligan, K. (2014). An analysis of partial-depth, floating, impermeable guidance structures for downstream fish passage at hydroelectric facilities. (Hydro Research Foundation: Amherst, MA, USA.) Available at http://www.hydrofoundation.org/uploads/3/7/6/1/37618667/mulligan_final_findings.pdf [Verified 15 June 2015].

Nichols, F. H., Cloern, J. E., Luoma, S. N., and Peterson, D. H. (1986). The modification of an estuary. Science 231, 567–573.
The modification of an estuary.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | 1:STN:280:DC%2BC3cvitl2ltg%3D%3D&md5=7be2eb7d5c1122648efb0e4c937699b6CAS | 17750968PubMed |

Perry, R. W., Skalski, J. R., Brandes, P. L., Sandstrom, P. T., Klimley, A. P., Ammann, A., and MacFarlane, B. (2010). Estimating survival and migration route probabilities of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 30, 142–156.
Estimating survival and migration route probabilities of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Perry, R. W., Romine, J. G., Adams, N. S., Blake, A. R., Burau, J. R., Johnston, S. V., and Liedtke, T. L. (2014). Using a non-physical behavioral barrier to alter migration routing of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta. River Research and Applications 30, 192–203.
Using a non-physical behavioral barrier to alter migration routing of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Perry, R. W., Brandes, P. L., Burau, J. R., Sandstrom, P. T., and Skalski, J. R. (2015). Effect of tides, river flow, and gate operations on entrainment of juvenile salmon into the Interior Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 144, 445–455.
Effect of tides, river flow, and gate operations on entrainment of juvenile salmon into the Interior Sacramento–San Joaquin River delta.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Plumb, J. M., Adams, N. S., Perry, R. W., Holbrook, C. M., Romine, J. G., Blake, A. R., and Burau, J. R. (2016). Diel activity patterns of juvenile late fall-run Chinook salmon with implication for operation of a gated water diversion in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. River Research and Applications 32, 711–720.
Diel activity patterns of juvenile late fall-run Chinook salmon with implication for operation of a gated water diversion in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Romine, J., Perry, R., Johnston, S., Fitzer, C., Pagliughi, S., and Blake, A. (2014). Identifying when tagged fishes have been consumed by piscivorous predators: application of multivariate mixture models to movement parameters of telemetered fishes. Animal Biotelemetry 2, 3.
Identifying when tagged fishes have been consumed by piscivorous predators: application of multivariate mixture models to movement parameters of telemetered fishes.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Scruton, D. A., Ollerhead, L. M. N., Clarke, K. D., Pennell, C., Alfredsen, K., Harby, A., and Kelley, D. (2003). The behavioral response of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) to experimental hydropeaking on a Newfoundland (Canada) river. River Research and Applications 19, 577–587.
The behavioral response of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) to experimental hydropeaking on a Newfoundland (Canada) river.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

US Government (1973). Endangered Species Act of 1973. (Department of Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service: Washington, DC, USA.)

Yang, Y. (2005). Can the strengths of AIC and BIC be shared? A conflict between model identification and regression estimation. Biometrika 92, 937–950.
Can the strengths of AIC and BIC be shared? A conflict between model identification and regression estimation.Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |