This Technical Report of the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) focuses on the technical and scientific issues involving (a) management of coho salmon harvest by the State of Oregon and Pacific Fisheries Management Council and (b) the analysis of salmonid population dynamics under the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds....
Many contemporary fisheries and wildlife issues are complex, messy, and divisive. Most share a set of common characteristics including a lack of comprehensive scientific information, a limited understanding of biological processes, a scarcity of agency staff, time, money, and a tendency for differences over policy preferences to end up as...
The Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST) convened 19 regional leaders in salmon management and research in a workshop on Goals for Recovery of Oregon Coastal Native (OCN) Stocks on August 4-5, 1999. The main purposes of the workshop were to 1) define the concept of recovery and 2) to identify...
Coho salmon have been the most important variety of salmon caught commercially in Oregon. Until recently, coho were also the most common variety in most coastal streams. Based on records from salmon canneries, coho in Oregon north of Cape Blanco (near Port Orford) numbered about 1.25 million adults annually 100...
Three factors were found to be significantly correlated with the fluctuations and trends in silver salmon production in Oregon. Logging was found to adversely affect the runs of salmon in later years. Exceptional winter floods seem to produce poor resulting runs. Low summer water flows also appear to produce lower...
Recent successes of hatcheries in producing coho salmon have stimulated searches for additional hatchery locations in coastal watersheds. In the past hatcheries were designed with gravity flow water supplies, but in more recent years pumping the water has proven feasible. Because of the acceptance of pumping, naturally impounded waters are...
The Ocean Salmon Management Program is responsible for obtaining fishery and biological data, analyzing these data and recommending appropriate management options for the ocean fisheries. Proposed management options are designed to achieve the optimum use of the salmon resource on a sustained basis. The ocean salmon recreational fishery is now...
This information report contains the results of a program to distribute surplus fry to streams underutilized by the natural population. It discusses the stocking and evaluation procedures, and gives the results.
Diseases caused by parasites are recognized as significant sources of mortality in wild fish populations. I assessed the impacts of multispecies parasitism on a threatened stock of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). A crucial prerequisite to this research was proper identification of parasites, which can be difficult for species lacking...
Juvenile coho salmon (101-400 mm) were sampled by
purse seine off the Pacific Coast from Waatch Point,
Washington to Four Mile Creek, Oregon, out to 30 mi
offshore, during the months of May, June, and September in
1982 and 1983. Sea surface temperature, surface salinity,
surface chlorophyll-a concentration, and Secchi...
In addition to standard spawning surveys for coho salmon, this report contains additional sampling in the Yaquina River, at the Salmon River Hatchery and tributaries of Coos Bay "to document straying of private hatchery coho salmon from the Oregon Aqua-Foods (OAF) facility at South Beach, Yaquina Bay, and Anadromous, Inc.,...
Loss of lowland estuarine and freshwater off-channel habitats along the Pacific Northwest coast has contributed to the decline of salmonid populations. These habitats serve as nursery grounds for juvenile salmonids providing them with food, winter shelter, and a transition zone between freshwater and saltwater. Lowland areas have undergone anthropogenic alterations...
The typical coho salmon life history has been characterized by juvenile fish that spend their entire first year in freshwater habitats before migrating into estuaries as smolts. However, reports of early migrating coho fry (age 0), including migration downstream to estuarine habitats, date back to the 1960s. Until a few...
Juvenile salmonids display highly variable spatial and temporal movement patterns that are influenced by density dependent (e.g., competition, predation) and density independent (e.g., genetics, stream discharge, physical habitat conditions) factors. The effects of these factors differ with fish life history stage, but will ultimately affect how salmonids utilize freshwater nursery...
We evaluated the effectiveness of using hatchery coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch presmolts to rebuild wild populations in Oregon coastal streams. Juvenile and adult populations were monitored in 15 stocked and 15 unstacked streams from summer 1980 until summer 1985. During the summers following the planting of presmolts, the number of...
Natural and gabion modified habitats containing coho salmon
(Oncorhynchus kisutch) were observed and measured seasonally in East
Fork Lobster Creek, a fifth order stream in western Oregon. Coho
salmon usually inhabited backwater and secondary channel pools in
winter. Large wood debris complexes and undercut banks were the
primary sources of...
Outreach is a key element in natural resource public participation processes in order to create an engaging, thoughtful, and productive environment for citizen involved decision-making. This project examined the utility of a needs assessment as an initial outreach tool within the context of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries...
Artificial propagation has been a prominent part of the management of salmonids in Oregon since the late 1800s, and will continue to have an important role to play in the recovery of wild stocks of anadromous salmonids in Oregon. Hatcheries and reviews of hatchery programs have been controversial and are...
For Pacific salmon, the evolution of local adaptations depends upon the species' propensity to return, or "home", to natal streams at time of reproduction. Pacific salmon use olfactory cues to guide homing behavior, yet little is known about the genetics of olfaction in salmon. In this study, I use putatively...
During a tagging operation conducted in 1951 on the Alsea River, 1,142 adult silver salmon were tagged with plastic Petersen-type tags and stainless steel jaw tags. An attempt was made to determine whether tagged fish released in different apparent conditions suffered differential mortalities. Under the hypothesis that the recovery of...
This report summarizes the 1979 ocean salmon fishing season off the Oregon coast. Troll fishery landings were obtained directly from commercial fish receiving tickets supplemented with a survey of fish buyers to obtain the most up-to-date estimate of total landings. Recreational catch and effort were obtained from creel census survey...
Increasing the abundance of salmon in coastal Oregon rivers and streams is a high priority public policy objective. Salmon runs have been reduced from pre-development conditions (typically defined as the 1 850s), but it is unclear by how much. Considerable resources have been allocated to restoring salmon runs, but it...
This study was designed to provide information about the juvenile life history of coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, in the Tenmile Lakes in Oregon by 1) classifying scales of spawning fish and outgoing smolts (1+), 2) assessing the contribution of juvenile life history types to the returns of adults (3₂) and...
from the summer dry season to the winter wet season. Such movement that connects summer and winter habitats may be particularly important for coho salmon, O. kisutch, because availability of overwintering habitat can limit freshwater survival for this species. Here, I describe basin-scale variability in the spatial pattern of fall...
Salmon survival and eventual recruitment success have long been thought to be determined within the first summer following ocean migration. Juvenile growth during this period is largely influenced by ocean conditions such as temperature, prey availability, abundance, and quality. Shifts in these conditions due to climatic perturbations are particularly prevalent...
Gives standard spawning data for salmon in Oregon and adds information "to document straying of private hatchery coho salmon from Oregon Aqua-Foods'(OAF) facility at Yaquina Bay. . . The program was conducted in response to concerns by fisheries managers and the public on the possible long-term effects of interbreeding wild...
Policy decisions in fishery management are becoming increasingly
complex and difficult. This is especially true for the salmon fisheries
where policy outcomes affect the productivity of the salmon
resource and the subsequent well-being of commercial fishermen, charter
boat operators, Indian fishermen, and sport anglers. The objective
of this study was...
Land management policies are ideas about nature projected onto the landscape. Culminations of social, economic, and scientific influences, these policies create standards affecting the function of ecological systems. In the case of riparian lands in the Oregon Coast Range, policy requirements vary considerably across federal, state, and private land ownerships....
Tidal marshlands in the upper estuary ecotone provide essential habitat for
juvenile salmonids. In this environment, salmonids grow rapidly and acclimate to
saltwater. Worldwide, tidal marshes have been diked and drained to provide
agricultural and residential land. Tide gates are one-way doors integrated into
dike systems that prevent saltwater flooding...
Over-winter growth of juvenile salmonids may be linked to ocean survival and thus species persistence. Diet, growth, and prey available to juvenile coho, Oncorhynchus kisutch, were examined from December 2004 to April 2005 in four tributaries of the West Fork Smith River (WFSR), Oregon. Juvenile coho growth rate and condition...
Aquatic ecological investigation is expanding to encompass considerations of
multiple scales across large landscapes. Much of the analysis included in this work
focuses specifically on coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in multiple subbasins on
the Oregon coast. Coho salmon were chosen for an investigation of spatial scales,
network connections, and life...
Field investigations were implemented to study the interrelationships between streamflows and salmonid production during the summer-fall low flow period in two natural stream channels. Elk Creek, near Cannon Beach in Clatsop County, was the site selected for intensive investigation.
Construction of streamflow control and diversion facilities was completed in November...
This report measures the effects of logging on the production and yield of Coho salmon, coastal cutthroat, and steelhead trout in small coastal streams. It contains descriptions of the physical and biological environment before logging, and describes some immediate effects of logging, such as such as a decrease in dissolved...
This report on departmental activities describes "physical stream and lake surveys, spawning fish surveys and individual investigations of particular human activities which might affect the well being of the salmon resource. The advent of federal cooperation has allowed an expansion of activities to include intensive collection of data on streams...
Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) migration and spawning are unique components of the salmon life cycle because they require synchrony of behavior with other individuals as well as with acceptable fluvial conditions. As with other organisms that exhibit group mating behavior, it is likely that environmental cues trigger coho salmon movement...
The goal of the Oregon Plan is to restore wild coho and wild steelhead runs. Under the federal Endangered Species Act, wild coho salmon along the Oregon Coast are listed as Threatened and wild Oregon Coast steelhead are a candidate for listing. Although cormorants have been hazed at the Nehalem...
Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 541.409, which created the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST), specifies that agencies are to respond to the recommendations of the IMST, stating “(3) If the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team submits suggestions to an agency responsible for implementing a portion of the Oregon Plan [for Salmon and...
Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 541.409, which created the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST), specifies that agencies are to respond to the recommendations of the IMST, stating “(3) If the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team submits suggestions to an agency responsible for implementing a portion of the Oregon Plan [for Salmon and...
Oregon Revised Statute 541.409, which created the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team (IMST), specifies that agencies are to respond to the recommendations of the IMST, stating “(3) If the Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team submits suggestions to an agency responsible for implementing a portion of the Oregon Plan [for Salmon and Watersheds],...
The effects of beaver (Castor canadensis) on stream morphology, riparian zones, and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) fry in Cape and Cummins Creeks, Oregon, were examined using stream surveys, vegetation transects, and coho salmon fry counts in 1987. The basin around Cape Creek has been extensively logged since the late 1940's....