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Movements of out-migrating late-fall run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) smolts through the San Francisco Bay Estuary

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Abstract

One thousand late-fall run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) hatchery reared smolts were fitted with ultrasonic coded tags over a two-year period (in 2009 and 2010) and released in the Sacramento River. We tracked their outmigration movements from Benicia Bridge to the Golden Gate. Smolts transited the Bay rapidly in 2 to 4 days, yet also made repeated upstream movements, coinciding with incoming tidal flows. Most smolts were detected in deep, channelized portions of the Bay. Some smolts were detected at nearshore, shallow sites such as marinas, or up tributaries, yet these fish generally returned to the main channel and continued their outmigration. The results suggest that the smolts perceive little benefit to remaining in estuarine waters, and therefore actively attempt to reach the ocean in as short a time as possible, rather than being transported passively by flows.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the US Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, to provide information to the Long Term Management Strategy (LTMS) for fish movement in San Francisco Bay relative to dredging and dredged material placement operations. The authors would like to thank Chuck Morton and Charlotte Cashin for scheduling boat time and assisting on the Caltrans vessel with the maintenance of the monitors deployed on the Bay Bridge and Richmond San Rafael Bridge. We appreciate the help from everyone at the UC Davis Biotelemetry Laboratory (Mike Thomas, Denise Tu, Michelle Buckhorn, Anna Steel and Jamilynn Poletto) for volunteering their time to assist with the surgical implantation of the tags and for assistance in maintaining the arrays. We would also like to thank Arnold Ammann and Cyril Michel at the Santa Cruz office of the NMFS for maintaining the database. Thanks to Kurt Brown and Kevin Niemela at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery. All fish handling protocols were approved under UC Davis Animal Care Protocol #15486.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, 1331, Academic Surge, 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Alex R. Hearn, Eric D. Chapman, Gabriel P. Singer & A. Peter Klimley

  2. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, 1455 Market St., San Francisco, CA, 94103, USA

    William N. Brostoff & Peter E. LaCivita

Authors
  1. Alex R. Hearn
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  2. Eric D. Chapman
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  3. Gabriel P. Singer
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  4. William N. Brostoff
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  5. Peter E. LaCivita
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  6. A. Peter Klimley
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Correspondence to Alex R. Hearn.

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Hearn, A.R., Chapman, E.D., Singer, G.P. et al. Movements of out-migrating late-fall run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) smolts through the San Francisco Bay Estuary. Environ Biol Fish 97, 851–863 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-013-0184-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-013-0184-9

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