1. WRIA 8 Fish in/Fish out Monitoring Summary
Presentation to the WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council
Hans B. Berge
King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks
Water and Land Resources Division
17 November 2011

2. Background
Chinook listed as threatened under ESA in 1999 in Puget Sound ESU
Science-based conservation plan for WRIA 8 adopted by NOAA in 2005
Conservation Plan strongly endorses monitoring using VSP parameters to identify goals and objectives, and to measure effectiveness of plan implementation (this project)

3. Viable Salmonid Population (VSP)
Interdependent parameters for evaluating viability:
Abundance
How many fish are there at various life stages?
Productivity
Is the population growing?
Distribution (spatial structure)
Don't put all your fish in one stream
Diversity
How many life history strategies are present? Measures of genetic diversity

4. VSP Parameters Monitoring Program Abundance Productivity Distribution
Diversity
Spawner
Surveys
Escapement,
Redd counts
Estimates of total eggs,
Prespawning mortality
Relative use of streams and rivers in core, satellite and episodic areas
Age structure, Hatchery or Natural origin
Fry/Smolt
Trapping
Juvenile abundance
Egg to smolt survival (%)
Relative comparison of Bear vs. Cedar
Fry vs. smolt numbers, migration timing
PIT-Tag
Migration survival estimates
Relative use and importance of migration areas
Migration timing to ocean

5. 1.4 M people
Ocean-type, Fall Chinook threatened in 1999
2 Chinook hatcheries (~2.5 M per year)
Mass marking began in 1999 (>95%)
Land use includes urban, ag, rural res, forest

6. Methods Timing and Abundance Biological characteristics Productivity
Diversity

7. Timing and Abundance
Live counts 1x per week in all streams with Chinook
Live and Dead counts
Carcass sampling
Redd Identification and location (2-3x per week)
Analysis
Area-under-the-curve (AUC)
Redd counts (2.5 fish/redd) to reduce error
Redd density (GPS location)

8. Live Counts
Sockeye
Chinook
Redds

9. Presence of Hatchery Fish on Spawning Grounds
Adipose Fin
Photos from NMT website:

10. Length, Age, and Pre-Spawn Mortality (egg retention)

11. Productivity Potential egg deposition (#redds x fecundity)
based on age information
Migrants (scoop and rotary screw traps at mouth of Cedar River and Bear Creek)
PIT Tagging at screw trap and interrogated at Locks
Returning adults (unmarked component of appropriate age)

12. Results

13. Timing

14. Abundance

15. Composition

16. Pre-Spawning Mortality
Marked females have a higher incidence of PSM in each basin (chi sq; P<.001)
7.7% vs. 22.2% of marked females

17. CWT Results Hatchery strays from:
Kitsap Peninsula (Gorst Ck, Grovers Ck)
Cowlitz River Hatchery
Tulalip Bay
University of Washington
Issaquah Creek (majority)
Elliott Bay Net pen releases
Soos Creek

18. Productivity What does it mean? Survival from life stage to life stage
Full life cycle survival (redd to redd)
Population replacement (redd to redd ratio >1.0)

19. Juvenile Survival Cedar River
Jan-April small fry (45mm) migration with later (May-June) larger parr (60-100mm) migration

20. Juvenile Survival Bear Creek

21. Cedar River Redd to Redd
Recovery plan goal
Replacement

22. Benefits Improved knowledge of species
Monitoring data used to focus actions in the plan
Auditing of restoration projects
Rearing capacity limiting in the Cedar River for smolt production
Pooling resources across jurisdictions for shared benefits
In-kind contributions increasing each year for projects
Collaboration and training with the Cedar River Naturalists, SalmonWatchers, Water Tenders, and Salmon Seeson
Raising awareness in the public by providing accurate information
Observation of in season problems for salmon
Blockages/beaver dams, fish kills, etc.
Interaction and educational opportunities with private property owners
Removing pumps from streams, landscaping, agency contact information

23. Importance for Stakeholders
Chinook life history requires consistent long-term annual monitoring to understand status and trends in population dynamics in order to compare to goals for recovery
Predictive relationships between fish in and fish out data will help devise possible future management actions
Understanding how projects relate to productivity is essential for de-listing species

24. Funding provided by the King Conservation District
Acknowledgments
WRIA 8 Technical Committee and Salmon Recovery Council
Spawning ground surveyors: mix of State, County, and Tribal staff
Karl Burton, SPU, redd surveys in the Cedar River
John Sneva et. al, WDFW, for aging scales
City of Redmond, Boeing, Blockbuster Video for help with
Screw trap access and power
Funding provided by the
King Conservation District