Survival of migrating salmon smolts in large rivers with and without dams

• Published in: PLoS biology Vol. 6; no. 10; p. e265
• Main Authors: Welch, David W, Rechisky, Erin L, Melnychuk, Michael C, Porter, Aswea D, Walters, Carl J, Clements, Shaun, Clemens, Benjamin J, McKinley, R Scott, Schreck, Carl
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.10.2008; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adaptation, Biological - physiology; Animal Migration - physiology; Animals; Biotechnology; Birds; Brackish; Canada; Dams; Ecology; Ecosystem; Environmental Monitoring - instrumentation; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Fish hatcheries; Freshwater; Marine; Northwestern United States; Oncorhynchus tshawytscha; Rivers; Salmon; Salmon - physiology; Salmonidae; Telemetry - methods; Northwestern United States; Canada; Pacific Ocean; Fraser River; USA, Snake R; Canada, British Columbia, Fraser R; North America, Rocky Mts; INE, USA, Columbia Estuary; IN, North Pacific; Canada; Environmental Monitoring; Animals; Salmon; Ecosystem; Adaptation, Biological; Northwestern United States; Animal Migration; Rivers; Telemetry
• ISSN: 1545-7885; 1544-9173; 1545-7885
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060265

The mortality of salmon smolts during their migration out of freshwater and into the ocean has been difficult to measure. In the Columbia River, which has an extensive network of hydroelectric dams, the decline in abundance of adult salmon returning from the ocean since the late 1970s has been ascribed in large measure to the presence of the dams, although the completion of the hydropower system occurred at the same time as large-scale shifts in ocean climate, as measured by climate indices such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. We measured the survival of salmon smolts during their migration to sea using elements of the large-scale acoustic telemetry system, the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking (POST) array. Survival measurements using acoustic tags were comparable to those obtained independently using the Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag system, which is operational at Columbia and Snake River dams. Because the technology underlying the POST array works in both freshwater and the ocean, it is therefore possible to extend the measurement of survival to large rivers lacking dams, such as the Fraser, and to also extend the measurement of survival to the lower Columbia River and estuary, where there are no dams. Of particular note, survival during the downstream migration of at least some endangered Columbia and Snake River Chinook and steelhead stocks appears to be as high or higher than that of the same species migrating out of the Fraser River in Canada, which lacks dams. Equally surprising, smolt survival during migration through the hydrosystem, when scaled by either the time or distance migrated, is higher than in the lower Columbia River and estuary where dams are absent. Our results raise important questions regarding the factors that are preventing the recovery of salmon stocks in the Columbia and the future health of stocks in the Fraser River.