Passage Route Survival and Behavior of Juvenile Salmon at Priest Rapids Dam, Columbia River, WA

Columbia River hydropower is an economic mainstay of the Pacific Northwest. However, it is well known that the construction of hydropower dams has added anthropogenic pressure to Columbia River salmon populations. Juvenile salmon that pass through powerhouse turbines at large hydropower dams display higher mortality rates than salmon passing through alternative routes; thus at Priest Rapids Dam, a top-spill fish bypass was constructed as a safer alternate downstream passage. To investigate the efficacy of this new passage structure, an acoustic telemetry study was conducted in the spring of 2014 to determine the ability of the bypass to collect and safely pass juvenile steelhead and Chinook salmon. The bypass collected 47% of the monitored steelhead and 38% of the monitored yearling Chinook salmon. Analysis of route choice identified forebay temperature, powerhouse discharge, spillway discharge and forebay approach patterns as significant drivers of passage selection. Immediately following dam passage, steelhead and Chinook salmon that used the bypass had higher survival and migrated faster compared to powerhouse route fish. The Priest Rapids Fish Bypass served its intended purpose by reducing the anthropogenic footprint of this hydroelectric facility on migrating juvenile salmon, which will aid the potential recovery of Columbia River salmon.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Biology

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Hatch, Kyle B.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Clay Arango
• Alison G. Scoville
• Paul W. James

• Fisheries
• Salmon
• Survival
• Columbia River
• Steelhead
• Chinook
• Animal Sciences
• Aquaculture and Fisheries

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/271

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-1285