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Movements of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts migrating through the San Francisco Bay Estuary

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Abstract

We used acoustic telemetry to monitor the out-migration of 1,000 steelhead smolts (Oncorhynchus mykiss) through the San Francisco Bay Estuary during spring of 2009 and 2010. The smolts transited the estuary rapidly (2–4 days) and utilized flows in the main channel during their migration. Fewer smolts were detected in marinas, tributaries and other shallow areas surrounding the estuary. Many of the smolts made repeated upriver and downriver movements that were related to the tidal flow, moving upstream during flood tides and downstream during ebb tides. These results show that steelhead smolts migrating from the Sacramento River transit rapidly through the lower reaches and do not use the estuary for feeding, rearing, or smoltification purposes.

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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 for fish movements in San Francisco Bay relative to dredging and dredged material placement operations. The research presented in this manuscript was conducted under a protocol that was reviewed and approved by the University of California Davis Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IUCAC). 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 bridges. We greatly 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, Scott Hamelberg and Kevin Niemala at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

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

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

    William N Brostoff & Peter E LaCivita

Authors
  1. Eric D Chapman
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  2. Alex R Hearn
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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 Eric D Chapman.

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Chapman, E.D., Hearn, A.R., Singer, G.P. et al. Movements of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) smolts migrating through the San Francisco Bay Estuary. Environ Biol Fish 98, 1069–1080 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-014-0341-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-014-0341-9

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