Investigating Juvenile Life History and Maternal Run Timing of Chehalis River Spring and Fall Chinook Salmon using Otolith Chemistry

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1 Investigating Juvenile Life History and Maternal Run Timing of Chehalis River Spring and Fall Chinook Salmon using Otolith Chemistry *Lance Campbell, Andrew Claiborne, Sara Ashcraft Mara Zimmerman and Curt Holt Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fish Program, Olympia, WA *Presenting author (

2 Investigating Juvenile Life History and Maternal Run Timing of Chehalis River Spring and Fall Chinook Salmon using Otolith Chemistry *Lance Campbell, Andrew Claiborne, Sara Ashcraft Mara Zimmerman and Curt Holt Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Fish Program, Olympia, WA *Presenting author (

3 Funding/Support/Collaboration Provided by: Washington State Legislature in Second Engrossed House Bill 1115 (Chapter 3, Laws of 2015) Chehalis Tribe Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Oregon State Universities Keck Collabratory for Mass Spectrometry

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5 Juvenile Chinook salmon migration timing Figure courtesy: Wild Salmon Evaluation and Production Unit (WDFW) Skagit Nisqually Fry (<45mm) Parr (>60mm) Green Dungeness

6 Juvenile Life History and Maternal Run Timing of Chehalis River Spring and Fall Chinook Salmon 1. Evaluate the successful juvenile life histories of naturally reproducing fall and spring Chinook salmon (Fry/Parr/Yearlings) 2. Linkage between life history expression, habitat proximity, and environmental conditions 3. Provide an independent estimate of maternal run timing (spring or fall) for individuals that were classified as spring or fall in the field

7 Spawning from Van Winkle Creek to Upper Chehalis Chehalis River Basin Juvenile life history related to distance from the estuary Map by Dale Gombert

8 Chehalis River Basin Summer stream temps Life history expression related to stream temperature Warm = 19 C to 20 C Cool = 14 C to 16 C Map by Dale Gombert

9 Methods: 1.) Fish size/otolith size relationship 2.) Elemental analysis (LA-ICPMS) Sr:Ca 3.) Relationship between salinity and Sr 4.) Maternal signal low Sr Spring & high Sr Fall related to length of fw residence Fork Length (mm) Otolith radius (um)

10 PARR & SPRING Sr:Ca milmol mol FRY & FALL Methods: A Maternal signal (core) Laser transect start Ocean growth Fry < 60 mm FL Parr > 60 mm FL B Maternal signal (core) Freshwater growth SkookumChuck 2016 Fall Chinook Ocean growth Estuary/Ocean entry 41 mm FL Otolith Distance (µm) 3.5 Yearling = scale and otolith annuli Sr:Ca milmol mol C Skookumchuck River 2016 Spring Chinook Maternal signal (core) Ocean growth 0.5 Freshwater growth Estuary/Ocean entry 83 mm FL 0 Otolith Distance (µm)

11 Life History Results Fry = 0-24% Highest Skookumchuk Wynoochee Black Parr = % Highest Upper Chehalis Newaukum Back calculated fork estuary/ocean entry (mm) VanWinkle rm 1.4 n=15 Return Year 2016 Wynoochee rm 13 n=23 Satsop rm 20 n=38 SkookumChuck rm 67 n=56 Newaukum rm 75 n=39 Upper Chehalis rm 92 n=54 Return Year 2015 Black rm 47 n=21 SkookumChuck rm 67 n=29 Upper Chehalis rm 92 n=29

12 Life History Results Call: lm(formula = sizeoe ~ Dis + Year + Temp, data = Che) Coefficients Distance: p = ** Year: p = * Temp: p = Proportion of Fry (< 60 mm) Return Year Tributary Distance to Estuary (RM) R =.75 P =0.09 Distance from estuary/ocean and year explain juvenile size at estuary/ocean entry categorical measure of basin temperate did not Size at Estuary/Ocean Entry (mm) Tributary Distance to Estuary (RM) R =.98 P <0.01

13 Individual Fish Spring Chinook Results Spring Chinook in Skookumchuck Newaukum and Upper Chehalis A Return Year 2015 n=79 Black River Skookumchuck River Upper Chehalis River 5% Spring Chinook n = 16 25% fry, 75% parr, no yearlings Sr:Ca (mmol mol -1 ) Fall Run Core Freshwater Spring Run Core 13% B Return Year 2016 n=223 Lk Aberdeen Satsop River Wynoochee River Individual Fish Skookumchuck River Newaukum River Upper Chehalis River 2.5 1% Sr:Ca (mmol mol -1 ) %

14 Results Spring Chinook Run Year 2015 Otolith Maternal Run Timing Run Year 2016 Otolith Maternal Run Timing Field Determination Run Timing Fall Spring Fall Spring 4 7 Fall Spring %-50% agreement Spring Chinook otolith and field calls 93-99% agreement Fall Chinook otolith and field calls

15 Results Spring Chinook Wait! there's a catch. Higher strontium in upper tributaries Sr isotope analysis may solve this Otolith freshwater Sr:Ca(mmol:mol) VanWinkle 2016 Wynoochee 2016 Satsop 2016 Black 2015 SkookumChuck 2015 SkookumChuck 2016 Newaukum 2016 Upper Chehalis 2015 Upper Chehalis 2016

16 Discussion Small fry sized fish that use Grays Harbor estuary are surviving and returning in adult population in a meaningful and significant way (~25%) in some populations* Direct link of fish size/life history to habitat proximity If otolith data is accurate suggests number of Spring Chinook over estimated

17 Fin

18 Special Thanks to: Chehalis Tribal fisheries staff: Bill Secena, Hector Canales, Todd Delamater, Shawn Ortivez, and Grant Shortman The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: John McCulloch, Eric Walther, Ray Bissonnette, Jonathan Hansen, Brian Barry, Chris Mattoon, Danielle Williams, Jesse Guindon, Nick Vanbuskirk, Frank Staller, Brent Trim, Oliver Crew, Lyle Jennings, Henry Kei, Ryan Zimmer, Amy Edwards, Katie Kennedy, Craig Loften, Garrett Moulton, Kim Figlar-Barnes and Megan Brady, Dale Gombert Lake Aberdeen Hatchery and Satsop Springs Pond: Keith Burns, Steve Franks, and Daniel Hampton The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Ageing and Otolith Laboratories: Anna Hildebrandt, Lang Nguyen, Stefanie Karney, John Sneva, Lucinda Morrow, Dana Anderson, Jeff Grimm, Eugene Sandborn.

19 Median size at ocean/estuary (Fl-mm) Size at estuary/ocean (StDev) Spring Chinook (Y/N) Distance to estuary (Rkm) Fry Parr Temp Tributary n (<60mm) (>60mm) profile Vanwinkle (LAH) N warm 2.25 Wynoochee N warm Satsop N cool Skookumchuck Y cool Newaukum Y cool SF Chehalis warm Upper Chehalis River N warm Black N warm SkookumChuck Y cool Upper Chehalis River Y warm