The proposed work is in support of efforts by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) to restore Pacific lamprey to self-sustaining population abundance.  Pacific lamprey are a critical tribal resource and are affected by many of the same threats facing anadromous salmonids:  reduced access to spawning habitat, degradation of spawning and rearing areas, losses of emigrating juveniles to entrainment, and non-indigenous predators.  NOAA fisheries will assist the CTUIR by providing monitoring  and database support for studies to assess adult and juvenile passage success in the Umatilla River system.  Obstacles to pre-spawning migrants were identified as a primary threat to lamprey by the Columbia Basin Lamprey Technical Workgroup.  However, the degree to which these structures obstruct adult Pacific lamprey varies.  In addition, outmigrating juvenile lamprey can suffer mortality or migration delays as a result of entrainment or impingement at irrigation diversion canals. This project will leverage existing passive integrated transponder (PIT) antenna arrays in the Umatilla Basin to document passage success of PIT-tagged adults and juveniles as they attempt to pass low-elevation irrigation diversion dams and bypass channels in the Umatilla River drainage.  NOAA fisheries staff will assist the CTUIR in tagging and database management.  In addition, NOAA fisheries will provide support for maintenance/improvement of lamprey-specific passage structures.


OBJECTIVE

To provide tagging and database management in support of CTUIR studies to assess upstream passage success of adult lamprey and entrainment rates of out-migrating juvenile Pacific lamprey.  A secondary objective is to provide maintenance and monitoring support at existing lamprey passage structures on the Umatilla River.