Using multistate mark-recapture methods to model adult salmonid migration in an industrialized river

Abstract

A multistate mark-recapture (MSMR) model of the adult salmonid migration through the lower Columbia River and into the Snake River was developed, designed for radiotelemetry detections at dams and tributary mouths. The model focuses on upstream-directed travel, with states determined from observed fish movement patterns indicating directed upstream travel, downstream travel ( fallback), and use of non-natal tributaries. The model was used to analyze telemetry data from 846 migrating adult spring-summer Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) tagged in 1996 at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. We used the model to test competing hypotheses regarding delayed effects of fallback at dams and visits to tributaries, and to define and estimate migration summary measures. Tagged fish had an average probability of 0.755 ( S E ˆ = 0.018 ) of ending migration at a tributary or upstream of Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River, and a probability of 0.245 ( S E ˆ = 0.018 ) of unaccountable loss (i.e., mortality or mainstem spawning) between the release site downstream of Bonneville Dam and Lower Granite Dam. The highest probability of unaccountable loss (0.092; S E ˆ = 0.012 ) was in the reach between Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Dam. Study fish used the tributaries primarily as exits from the hydrosystem, and visits to non-natal tributaries had no significant effect on subsequent movement upriver ( P = 0.4245). However, fallback behavior had a small effect on subsequent tributary entry and exit ( P = 0.0530), with fish using tributaries as resting areas after reascending Bonneville Dam after fallback. The spatial MSMR model developed here can be adapted to address additional questions about the interaction of migrating organisms with their environment, or for the study of migrations in other river systems.