# - Indicates a change in CCR-25874

1.)  Add $23,081.00 to purchase a high resolution scale imaging system.  This system will replace CRITF’s DOS-based scale pattern system which has severe limitations as one would expect from a system purchased in 1985.  They plan to use this initially to capture images of sockeye scales collected in 1923 Columbia River fisheries that have been supplied by NOAA.  Questions they interested in are whether growth between 1923 stocks, which has already been determined by genetics, differ.  They also plan to determine whether there are differences in growth as indicated by scales between present day sockeye salmon stocks and those that existed in 1923. They also will compare these with scale growth measurements they made annually for sockeye salmon using the old system between 1985 and 2007.  Initial work in the rest of this contract will focus on capturing the 1923 scale samples but they plan on expanding the scale pattern portion of this project in subsequent years.  

2.)  Fund a pilot juvenile sockeye acoustic tagging project in place of the white fish tagging which had been proposed.  This component of the project was originally designed as compensation for having the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) conduct acoustic trawl surveys of Lake Wenatchee for juvenile sockeye abundance.  Now the "compensation" has changed from paying for tags for a species of no concern to this project (whitefish) to acoustic tagging sockeye juveniles to support work elements O and P that have been added to this project.  In effect, They’ve gone from providing in-kind compensation to DFO for this work to DFO now contributing this work in response to them funding additional sockeye work.  

3.)  The technical report will be completed in the subsequent contract and work element I and all associated milestones will be marked incomplete in the final status report as agreed between the BPA COTR and CRITFC.  Also, as agreed, a final progress report or annual report, a simplified report of how the contract work progressed throughout the course of the year will be completed in this contract.  

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This project seeks to expand our knowledge on the factors limiting production of Okanogan and Wenatchee sockeye salmon stocks.  A primary factor affecting the Okanogan stock is believed to be survival upstream of Wells Dam.  To quantify this mortality, in 2009 this project funded PIT tag detection antennas at Vertical Diversion Structure 3 upstream of Osoyoos Lake (OKC) and in 2010 funded installation of PIT tag detection at Zosel Dam fishways (ZOS).  In both 2009 and 2010 we funded an acoustic tag network upstream of Wells Dam and also acoustically tagged sockeye at Wells Dam.  In 2011, we will maintain the existing PIT tag antennas at OKC and ZOS and also continue with the deployment of the acoustic tag network as well as acoustically tagging sockeye salmon.  We also will expand work with Wenatchee sockeye salmon by increasing the number of acoustic trawl surveys to estimate smolt abundance in Lake Wenatchee.   We will continue to PIT tag sockeye salmon at Bonneville Dam adult fish facility (as part of another MOA project, Upstream Migration Timing) as well as at the Wells Dam east bank fish trap.  Sockeye will also be acoustic tagged and temperature tagged at Wells Dam.  Between the acoustic and PIT tags, Okanogan sockeye salmon mortality will be partitioned by reach upstream of Wells Dam and we hope to then be able to correlate survival with river and lake conditions, hopefully allowing survival to be increased through better Okanagan River management.  

This project will also standardize smolt abundance estimation methodologies between the two stocks by conducting annual hydroacoustic surveys of Lake Wenatchee to compare with those being conducted in Osoyoos Lake.  Given that the strength of the Wenatchee run relative to the Okanogan run has greatly declined in recent years, a plan for further Wenatchee sockeye research will be developed.

This project will expand our Upstream Migration Studies project (2008-518-00) by funding deployment of PIT tag detection antennas as well as an acoustic tag network in the Okanagan Basin.  This will allow sockeye salmon to be tracked through the Okanogan Basin, thereby allowing us to extend our migration survival estimates into the Okanogan River.  We also will be able to determine where in the Okanogan River-Osoyoos Lake mortality is occurring, which may then allow for the development of different river management actions to reduce this mortality.  It is hoped that, depending on where mortality is occurring, better flow management techniques to optimize adult survival can be developed.  The PIT tag network we develop as part of this project may also improve data on steelhead and Chinook use of the Canadian portion of the Okanogan Basin.