Columbia River

Background

The key management questions to be addressed by the analyses are:

1. Is there a change in abundance of adult life stages of fish using the Middle Columbia River (MCR) that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
2. Is there a change in growth rate of adult life stages of the most common fish species using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
3. Is there a change in body condition (measured as a function of relative weight to length) of adult life stages of fish using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
4. Is there a change in spatial distribution of adult life stages of fish using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?

Other objectives include the estimation of species richness, species diversity (evenness) and the modeling of environmental-fish metric relationships and scale age data. The year-round minimum flow was implemented in the winter of 2010 at the same time that a fifth turbine was added.

Background

Each spring in the Lower Columbia River (LCR) below the Hugh L. Keenleyside Dam (HLK) and in the Lower Kootenay River (LKR) below the Brilliant Dam, thousands of Rainbow Trout spawn. Since 1992, BC Hydro has stabilized the spring discharge releases from HLK to protect Rainbow Trout redds from dewatering.

The primary goal of the current analysis to answer the following management questions:

Does the implementation of Rainbow Trout Spawning Protection Flows over the course of the monitoring period lead to an increase in the relative abundance of Rainbow Trout spawning in the LCR downstream of the HLK dam?

Does the implementation of RTSPF over the course of the monitoring period lead to an increase in the spatial distribution of locations (and associated habitat area) that Rainbow Trout use for spawning in the LCR downstream of HLK?

Does the implementation of RTSPF over the course of the monitoring period protect the majority of Rainbow Trout redds (as estimated from spawning timing) from being dewatered in the LCR downstream of HLK?

Background

In the mid 1990s BC Hydro began operating Hugh L. Keenleyside (HLK) Dam to reduce dewatering of Mountain Whitefish and Rainbow Trout eggs.

The primary goal of the Lower Columbia River Fish Population Indexing program is to answer two key management questions:

What are the abundance, growth rate, survival rate, body condition, age distribution, and spatial distribution of subadult and adult Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, and Walleye in the Lower Columbia River?

What is the effect of inter-annual variability in the Whitefish and Rainbow Trout flow regimes on the abundance, growth rate, survival rate, body condition, and spatial distribution of subadult and adult Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, and Walleye in the Lower Columbia River?

The inter-annual variability in the Whitefish and Rainbow Trout flow regimes was quantified in terms of the percent egg dewatering as greater flow variability is associated with more egg stranding.

Background

The key management questions to be addressed by the analyses are:

1. Is there a change in abundance of adult life stages of fish using the Middle Columbia River (MCR) that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
2. Is there a change in growth rate of adult life stages of the most common fish species using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
3. Is there a change in body condition (measured as a function of relative weight to length) of adult life stages of fish using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
4. Is there a change in spatial distribution of adult life stages of fish using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?

Other objectives include the estimation of species richness, species diversity (evenness) and the modeling of environmental-fish metric relationships. The year-round minimum flow was implemented in the winter of 2010 at the same time that a fifth turbine was added.

Background

Each spring in the Lower Columbia River (LCR) below Hugh L. Keenleyside Dam (HLK) and in the Lower Kootenay River (LKR) below Brilliant Dam, thousands of Rainbow Trout spawn. Since 1992, BC Hydro has stabilized the spring discharge releases from HLK to protect Rainbow Trout redds from dewatering.

The primary goal of the current analysis to answer the following management question:

Does the implementation of Rainbow Trout Spawning Protection Flows over the course of the monitoring period lead to an increase in the relative abundance of Rainbow Trout spawning in the LCR downstream of HLK dam?

Background

The key management questions to be addressed by the analyses are:

1. Is there a change in abundance of adult life stages of fish using the Middle Columbia River (MCR) that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
2. Is there a change in growth rate of adult life stages of the most common fish species using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
3. Is there a change in body condition (measured as a function of relative weight to length) of adult life stages of fish using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?
4. Is there a change in spatial distribution of adult life stages of fish using the MCR that corresponds with the implementation of a year-round minimum flow?

Other objectives include the estimation of species richness, species diversity (evenness) and biomass and the modeling of environmental-fish metric relationships. The year-round minimum flow was implemented in the winter of 2010 at the same time that a fifth turbine was added.

The data were provided by Golder Associates.

Background

The Mica Tailrace Fish Indexing Study is a four year program to estimate the effects of the addition of two new turbines (Mica 5 and 6) on the ichyofauna and thermal regime in the 2.5 km of the Columbia River downstream of Mica Dam. A single year of fish indexing data (2008) was also available from a previous program. As per the Terms of Reference (TOR) the relative abundance, condition and spatial distribution of the fish populations was assessed. In addition, changes in the species evenness were also estimated.

Background

In the mid 1990s BC Hydro began operating Hugh L. Keenleyside (HLK) Dam to reduce dewatering of Mountain Whitefish and Rainbow Trout eggs.

The primary goal of the Lower Columbia River Fish Population Indexing program is to answer two key management questions:

What are the abundance, growth rate, survival rate, body condition, age distribution, and spatial distribution of subadult and adult Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, and Walleye in the LCR?

What is the effect of inter-annual variability in the Whitefish and Rainbow Trout flow regimes on the abundance, growth rate, survival rate, body condition, and spatial distribution of subadult and adult Whitefish, Rainbow Trout, and Walleye in the LCR?

Background

Discharge reductions associated with the operation of HLK and Brilliant Dams on the Lower Columbia River, British Columbia, can cause fish stranding.

The management question the current analysis attempts to answer is:

Which operations, and at what season, pose the highest risk of stranding or interference with the normal life cycles of sculpins and dace?