Savannah Harbor Expansion Project

Transcription

1 Savannah Harbor Expansion Project SHEP Progress Report April 1 st April 30 th 2016 Task 1: SCDNR would acquire and insert 10 sonic transmitters per year into Atlantic sturgeon in the Savannah River Estuary and an additional 10 sonic transmitters into shortnose sturgeon. These fish should be collected and tagged with sonic transmitters within or as close as possible to the estuary. The goal would be a 50/50 split between adults/sub-adults and juvenile fish. All sturgeon collected will be weighed, measured, Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagged, and have a fin clip taken for genetic analysis before being released. Overview 1: A total of 46 Atlantic and 47 shortnose sturgeon were captured and five adult/13 juvenile Atlantic and 13 adults/9 juvenile shortnose were transmitted in year 1 and 2 of the study (Table 1). In year three, 35 Atlantic and 26 shortnose have been captured with five adult/five juvenile Atlantic and five adult shortnose transmitted. (Table 2). Fish condition precludes some fish from receiving transmitters. Efforts will continue in order to catch juvenile shortnose sturgeon in year three of study. *Note: Differences in numbers of sturgeon captured from earlier progress reports are due to a corrupted excel database used to store the capture data. The current numbers of sturgeon captured in this April report have been validated and are correct. Task 2: SCDNR would acquire and insert 10 sonic transmitters per year into Atlantic sturgeon in the Savannah River, 10 sonic transmitters into shortnose sturgeon, and 20 transmitters into other species representative of the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam (NSBL&D) area fish community (Striped bass, Robust redhorse, and American shad). These fish should be collected and tagged with sonic transmitters within or as close as possible to the NSBL&D. If sufficient numbers of sturgeon are not available for capturing, tagging and tracking in the upper river, transmitters can be implanted in other species representative of the NSBL&D fish community, preferably American shad. Overview 2: Task 2 was not funded by the USACE Task 3: Acquisition, operation, and maintenance of 23 receivers per year are included in the statement of work. Receivers would be concentrated in the estuary, where the impacts of harbor deepening are anticipated (Figure 1). Overview 3: Twenty-five receivers have been deployed from the South Channel of Savannah River to Front River at river kilometer (rkm) 50, Middle, and Back River (Table 3). GPS locations of receivers and locations of tagged fish (residency master list) are also included as part of this progress report. All receivers were downloaded, and resulting telemetry data will continue to be shared with UGA with provided residency master list. 1

2 Task 4: To allow identification of fish movement upstream of the NSBL&D, the contractor should locate 5 receivers between NSBL&D and the Augusta Shoals. Overview 4: Task 4 was not funded by the USACE Task 5: Manual tracking of instrumented fish will occur monthly July September and at least quarterly for the remainder of the year. Overview 5: Manual tracking efforts were completed on April 8 th with an emphasis on locating transmitted fish in Front, Middle, and Back Rivers. Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity were recorded at 1-meter water depth intervals at the location of each detected sturgeon. Planned downloads of estuarine receivers should provide information for missing fish with subsequent manual tracking efforts based on those locations. Manual tracking data is updated and available in the provided manual tracking database. 2

3 Table 1. Sturgeon, Striped Bass, and American Shad Capture Data for the Savannah River SHEP - Project Year 1 and 2 3

4 Table 1. Sturgeon, Striped Bass, and American Shad Capture Data for the Savannah River SHEP - Project Year 1 and 2 (continued) 4

5 Table 2. Sturgeon Capture Data for the Savannah River SHEP - Project Year 3 5

6 Table 3. GPS Coordinates of Savannah River Receiver Locations Receiver # Station Name Latitude Longitude Savannah Jetty 32⁰02.074'N 80⁰51.064'W RM 0 32⁰02.248'N 80⁰53.990'W RM 3 32⁰04.274'N 80⁰57.289'W RM 6 32⁰04.616'N 80⁰57.394'W RM 9 32⁰05.390'N 81⁰01.173'W RM 15 32⁰04.972'N 81⁰05.615'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM ⁰08.699'N 81⁰08.416'W RM ⁰09.647'N 81⁰09.256'W RM ⁰10.971'N 81⁰09.368'W RM 24 32⁰11.816'N 81⁰09.259'W RM ⁰14.164'N 81⁰09.012'W MR RM 0 32⁰08.794'N 81⁰07.974'W MR RM ⁰09.523'N 81⁰08.253'W MR RM ⁰10.342'N 81⁰08.150'W MR RM 4 32⁰11.602'N 81⁰08.252'W MR RM 5 32⁰12.613'N 81⁰08.289'W BR RM 4 32⁰06.673'N 81⁰06.471'W BR RM 7 32⁰08.704'N 81⁰07.236'W BR RM ⁰10.068'N 81⁰07.790'W BR RM ⁰11.574'N 81⁰07.096'W BR RM ⁰13.280'N 81⁰08.598'W RM ⁰16.141'N 81⁰08.052'W Abercorn RM 0 32⁰14.952'N 81⁰09.191'W Abercorn RM 1 32⁰15.127'N 81⁰10.057'W RM 39 32⁰20.490'N 81⁰07.932'W RM 45 32⁰22.882'N 81⁰10.856'W RM 53 32⁰27.582'N 81⁰11.424'W RM ⁰31.723'N 81⁰16.084'W RM 68 32⁰33.678'N 81⁰18.593'W RM 74 32⁰35.544'N 81⁰22.437'W RM ⁰38.516'N 81⁰24.591'W RM ⁰41.699'N 81⁰24.622'W 6

7 Table 3. GPS Coordinates of Savannah River Receiver Locations (continued) Receiver # Station Name Latitude Longitude RM ⁰43.956'N 81⁰24.958'W RM ⁰46.322'N 81⁰25.766'W RM ⁰48.034'N 81⁰25.761'W RM ⁰50.435'N 81⁰26.475'W RM ⁰52.905'N 81⁰27.962'W RM ⁰54.521'N 81⁰28.952'W RM ⁰56.234'N 81⁰30.159'W RM ⁰58.508'N 81⁰29.767'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 'N 'W RM 190 (Jason's Dock) 'N 'W Rm (Marina) 'N 'W Lower Shoals 'N 'W Upper Shoals 'N 'W I20 Downstream 'N 'W 7

8 Figure 1. Vemco receiver locations within proximity to the King Island Turn Basin. 8

9 Appendix 1 Pictures of Project 9

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