Assessing Juvenile Salmonid Passage Through Culverts: Field Research in Support of Protocol Development
Abstract
The primary goal of our research this spring/ summer was to refine techniques and examine scenarios under which a standardized protocol could be applied to assess juvenile coho salmon (O. kisutch) passage through road culverts. Field evaluations focused on capture-mark- recapture methods that allowed analysis of fish movement patterns, estimates of culvert passability, and potential identification of cues inducing these movements. At this stage, 0+ age coho salmon fry 30 mm to 65 mm long (fork length) were the species and age class of interest. Ultimately, the protocol will provide rapid, statistically rigorous methods for trained personnel to perform standardized biological assessments of culvert passability to a number of juvenile salmon species. Questions to be addressed by the research include the following: ? Do hydraulic structures such as culverts restrict habitat for juvenile salmonids? ? How do existing culverts and retrofits perform relative to juvenile salmonid passage? ? Do some culvert characteristics and hydraulic conditions provide better passage than others? ? Does the culvert represent a barrier to certain size classes of fish? Recommendations addressed issues of study site selection, initial capture, marking, recapture/observations, and estimating movement.
Related Papers
- → Using a Laboratory‐Based Growth Model to Estimate Mass‐ and Temperature‐Dependent Growth Parameters across Populations of Juvenile Chinook Salmon(2015)40 cited
- → Behavioural response of juvenile Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha during a sudden temperature increase and implications for survival(2009)18 cited
- → Effects of external and surgically implanted dummy radio transmitters on mortality, swimming performance and physiological status of juvenile masu salmon Oncorhynchus masou(2009)26 cited
- → Growth rate variation between populations of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)(1986)
- Effects of copper on survival and the immune response of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)(1976)