A PIT tag based method to investigate survival of Cowichan River Chinook throughout various stages in their first year of marine life
Presentation Abstract
This project utilizes PIT-tagging of Cowichan Chinook juveniles with the objective of calculating the relative survival to adult return from several stages within the first year of life. The application of PIT tags to juvenile Cowichan River Chinook is a novel approach to studying in-river and marine survival. The program was piloted in 2014 with the deployment of approximately 7,000 tags and expanded in 2015 to 15,500 tags. Detection of tags in returning adults will provide new information on the relative survival rates from freshwater and marine tagging episodes (defined by location and timing). A new antennae array is planned for the Cowichan River in 2016 that will allow detection of returning PIT-tagged Chinook without handling these adults. These ‘matt’ like antennas have been tested previously in the United States.
PIT-based estimates of marine survival are analogous to the more commonly used coded-wire tag-based programs used coastwide, but PIT tags are uniquely coded and can be interpreted without sacrificing the animal. Further, by developing novel techniques to catch under-yearling Chinook during their early marine residence, we can assess the survival of juvenile Chinook from various stages of their development until they return to the Cowichan River; thereby making it possible to directly test the critical-period hypothesis about early marine survival in juvenile salmon. Tag detections in-river and within the estuary have provided valuable insight into the behavior of rearing juveniles in-river, relevance of estuary habitats, as well as the survival of downstream migrants.
Session Title
The Salish Sea Marine Survival Project- Novel Approaches, Project Status and Key Findings
Conference Track
Species and Food Webs
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Chinook salmon--British Columbia--Cowichan River; Fish tagging--British Columbia--Cowichan River
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Cowichan River (B.C.)
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
A PIT tag based method to investigate survival of Cowichan River Chinook throughout various stages in their first year of marine life
2016SSEC
This project utilizes PIT-tagging of Cowichan Chinook juveniles with the objective of calculating the relative survival to adult return from several stages within the first year of life. The application of PIT tags to juvenile Cowichan River Chinook is a novel approach to studying in-river and marine survival. The program was piloted in 2014 with the deployment of approximately 7,000 tags and expanded in 2015 to 15,500 tags. Detection of tags in returning adults will provide new information on the relative survival rates from freshwater and marine tagging episodes (defined by location and timing). A new antennae array is planned for the Cowichan River in 2016 that will allow detection of returning PIT-tagged Chinook without handling these adults. These ‘matt’ like antennas have been tested previously in the United States.
PIT-based estimates of marine survival are analogous to the more commonly used coded-wire tag-based programs used coastwide, but PIT tags are uniquely coded and can be interpreted without sacrificing the animal. Further, by developing novel techniques to catch under-yearling Chinook during their early marine residence, we can assess the survival of juvenile Chinook from various stages of their development until they return to the Cowichan River; thereby making it possible to directly test the critical-period hypothesis about early marine survival in juvenile salmon. Tag detections in-river and within the estuary have provided valuable insight into the behavior of rearing juveniles in-river, relevance of estuary habitats, as well as the survival of downstream migrants.
