Yuba River Springrun

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Yuba River Spring-run Chinook Salmon
Duane A. Massa, Fishery Biologist California
Department of Fish and Game
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Arent they just strayed Feather River Hatchery
salmon?
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Feather River
New Bullards Bar Dam
(1969)
966,103 AF
Yuba River
RM 22
70,000AF
Dry Creek (RM15.6)
Englebright Dam
Deer Creek (RM 23.7)
Daguerre Point Dam
(RM11.5)
Hallwood (RM 7)
Marysville
Yuba City
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Englebright Dam

• Upstream limit to anadromy.
• Area directly downstream scoured.
• Majority of spring-run spawning habitat
  below the Narrows

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Englebright to Daguerre

• Holding/Spawning/Rearing.
• Foothill to valley riverine environment.

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Daguerre Point Dam

• Ladders on North and South
• Vaki Riverwatcher Systems
• Three diversions directly upstream.
• Passage problems

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Diversions at Daguerre

• Hallwood Cordua District Diversion.
• Browns Valley District Diversion.
• South Yuba Brophy District Diversion.

Hallwood-Cordua Screen (old)
Browns Valley Irrigation District Screen
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Daguerre to Mouth

• Valley riverine environment.
• Rearing/Spawning?/Migratory corridor.

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• What do we know?

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Juvenile Monitoring

• Rotary screw traps sample below most available
  spawning habitat.
• Spring-run juvenile emigration detected as early
  as Nov. 1, but normally observed at Hallwood RSTs
  around mid-November.
• Wild Chinook salmon coded-wire tagged during
  2003-2006 brood years.

Yuba River RSTs at Hallwood
Semi-monthly catch of juvenile Chinook salmon at
the Yuba River RST, November 16 30, 2005
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Wild-stock tagging

• Currently about 725,000 Chinook coded-wire
  tagged and released.
• 2003 180k
• 2004 245k
• 2005 50k
• 2006 250k

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Monitoring Cont.

• Of the approximately 725,000 Chinook coded-wire
  tagged and released, nine have been recovered.
• Yuba River Escapement Survey (2006) 1 recovery
• Ocean Troll (2006/2007) 7 recoveries
• Ocean Recreational (2007) 1 recovery

• Expanded numbers
• Yuba River Escapement Survey (2006) 16.9 salmon
  
• Ocean Troll 20.21 salmon
• Ocean Recreational 4.29 salmon
• If we assume the marked group of 725,000 salmon
  to have similar vulnerability to commercial and
  sport harvest, then these data suggest a
  potentially high rate of harvest on Yuba River
  stocks (59).

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More CWT info

• 2005 Escapement Survey collected 196 ad-clipped
  heads!
• 169 successfully extracted and read CWTs
  (non-sheds)
• Feather River SRCS accounted for 133 of the 169
  recoveries (79)
• Remaining 36 recoveries were fall-run Chinook
  from Feather, Coleman and Nimbus Hatcheries.

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Even more CWT info

• Of the 133 Feather River SRCS tags recovered in
  2005, 132 were brood year 2002.
• In 2002, Feather River Hatchery initiated a 100
  mark on SRCS production.
• SRCS passage over Daguerre from Mar-Jun 2005
  numbered 1,019 fish (keep in mind these are
  minimum numbers!)
• Ad-clips identified by Vaki during same period
  indicated 25 introgression of marked Chinook
  salmon.

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Oh no, not more CWT info

• Feather River Hatchery strays accounted for 97
  of CWT recoveries from the 2005 escapement
  survey.

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What are the impacts to special-status stocks as
a result of hatchery outplanting?
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Adult SR Monitoring

• Redd Survey documents early spawning between end
  of August and mid-September each year.
• Annual fall-run Chinook salmon escapement survey
  includes spawned carcasses included in
  mark/recapture as early as September 18
  (presumably, these are mostly spring-run).
• Vaki RiverWatcher Systems pick up adult
  migrations as early as March and April, with a
  steady increase in numbers through Oct-Nov.

Preliminary Vaki Data
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The Vaki RiverWatchers
Photo Credit Unknown
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• Two sets of infra-red diodes that
• scan in different directions.
• Fish pass through the scanner
• interrupting the infra-red light beams.

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• 50 scans per second.
• By adding together multiple scans
• an image of the fish is created and
• is displayed as a silhouette.

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Chinook salmon adipose fin clipped
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Chinook Salmon Passage 2003-2006
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Historic CV Passage Data

• Data SourcesAverage run timing of salmonids
  passing Red Bluff Diversion Dam (1970-1988)Lower
  Yuba River Management Plan (DFG 1991)Baird
  Hatchery, McCloud River (1888-1901)Van Wort, W.
  - Mill Creek counting station (1964)Feather
  River Salvage Data- Pre Hatchery
  (1964-1966)Fisher, Frank - Past and Present
  Status of Central Valley Chinook Salmon (1994)

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Adipose Clipped Chinook Passage2003-2006
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More recent passage info
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In conclusion

• Adult immigration of SRCS observed March-June at
  Daguerre Dam through Vaki RiverWatchers.
• Adult SRCS observed spawning during late-August
  to early-September in annual redd surveys.
• Carcasses observed during annual escapement
  surveys during mid-September.
• Juvenile Chinook observed emigrating at Hallwood
  RSTs by mid-November.
• So..

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Arent they just hatchery strays?
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Maybe some, but not all!
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Questions?