CUSHMAN RESERVOIRS Skokomish Watershed Monitoring Conference - Public Meeting Florian Leischner 9/17/2015
CUSHMAN RESERVOIRS MONITORING Management and monitoring of Tacoma Power reservoirs Lake Cushman and Lake Kokanee Leah Marquez-Glynn, Power Management Tacoma Power Salmon Reintroductions and Fish Facilities - Andy Ollenburg, Cushman Fish Facilities Manager Tacoma Power Fish Passage Monitoring Matt Bleich, Fish Passage Biologist Tacoma Power Reservoir fisheries management and monitoring- Florian Leischner, Fish Population and Habitat Biologist Tacoma Power 2
PROJECT AT A GLANCE Cushman Reservoir: Storage Kokanee Reservoir: Regulation 3
DATA MONITORING Continuously monitor: Elevation Discharge Generator status Calculate average daily inflows Calculate change in storage volume Inflows equal discharge +/- change in volume Incorporate and monitor Short- and long-term weather and climate prediction Track winter snowpack
5 2015 DROUGHT
2015 DROUGHT NF Skokomish Flows: Reduced flows in spring (20% reductions) Reservoir dropped below 735 ft during summer (minimum of 731.75 end of August) Cushman No. 2 produced essentially no power from April 15 through Labor Day 6
7 2015 FISH PASSAGE
8 2015 FISH PASSAGE
# of fish Live Fish Upstream of Little Falls 45 40 35 Lacked permit required to operate adult trap at Cushman Dam No. 2, trap operation began on November 12 th Coho Chum Steelhead Flow 1200 1000 30 800 25 20 600 Flow(cfs) 15 400 10 5 200 0 0 10-Oct 10-Nov 10-Dec 10-Jan 10-Feb 10-Mar 10-Apr 10-May 10-Jun 10-Jul 10-Aug Flow data obtained from USGS
# of fish 45 40 35 Live Fish Upstream of Little Falls Coho Chum January 7-13th: Side channel pool blew out Steelhead during 1000cfs release Flow Before: 1200 1000 30 800 25 20 After: 600 Flow(cfs) 15 400 10 200 5 0 0 10-Oct 10-Nov 10-Dec 10-Jan 10-Feb 10-Mar 10-Apr 10-May 10-Jun 10-Jul 10-Aug Flow data obtained from USGS
ADULT UPSTREAM PASSAGE Potential pathways: Moved upstream into lake or tributary stream Moved downstream into North Fork Lethally removed Transferred to one of the new hatchery programs 11
HATCHERY FACILITIES Under construction 12
13 2015 DOWNSTREAM PASSAGE
FLOATING SURFACE COLLECTOR Three major components Fish Exclusion Net Net Transition Structure Floating Surface Collector 14
DOWNSTREAM MONITORING METHODS System Survival PIT mark-recapture 2015 reduced sample size Fish Collection Efficiency Acoustic Telemetry 3 Dimensional Positioning Data processed in Sept Presence/Absence Data processed weekly PIT mark recapture Reduced standard error 15
METHODS (CONT.) Weekly Estimates Release Groups Array Deployment Week SS FCE PIT(n) FCE - AT May 14 45 170 33 May 21 57 174 36 May 28 58 173 35 June 4 57 172 34 June 11 55 172 32 June 18 55 171 28 June 24 0 180 36 Total 327 1212 234 16
POTENTIAL ADULT RETURNS Species Life stage at release Release Number SAR Adults Totals Sockeye Fed Fry (May) 200,000 0.04 200 Fed Fry (June) 1,000,000 0.04 6,000 22,200 Fed Fry (Sept) 800,000 0.04 16,000 Spring Chinook Fingerling 300,000 0.0035 1,050 Yearling 75,000 0.0045 338 1,388 Winter Steelhead Smolts 15,000 0.03 450 Adults 225-225 675 Coho Smolts 10,000-35,000 0.05 500-1,750 17
HISTORY OF LAKE CUSHMAN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT Over 100 years of resident fish stockings 1899 Lake Cushman 2,500 Brook Trout 18
19 HISTORY OF LAKE CUSHMAN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT
HISTORY OF LAKE CUSHMAN FISHERIES MANAGEMENT 1983: last of kokanee plants 2000 and prior: 4000+ Cutthroat 2001: 210 Cutthroat Since early 2000 s, Cushman fisheries have been targeting self-sustaining population Put-and-take fishery at Lake Kokanee: 2001 to present: 4000-9000 rainbow trout 20
2012-2013 WDFW SURVEY 18 horizontal gillnets, 9 vertical gillnets, 4 fyke nets and 30 boat electrofishing sections 21
2012 SPECIES COMPOSITION Species composition by weight by number Size range (mm TL) Species (G) (%) wt (#) (%) n Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) 29 0.001 2 0.009 110-123 Kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) 4,501 0.099 40 0.182 122-272 Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) 9,351 0.206 52 0.236 135-650 Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) 16,245 0.358 5 0.023 510-835 Mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) 3,147 0.069 31 0.141 106-265 Salish sucker (Catostomus catostomus) 11,972 0.264 86 0.391 106-337 Speckled dace (Rhinichthys falcatus) 66 0.001 2 0.009 109-170 Cotidae spp 107 0.002 2 0.009 136-185 Total 45,418 1.000 220 1.000
2013 SPECIES COMPOSITION Species composition by weight by number Size range (mm TL) Species (kg) (%) wt (#) (%) n Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) 0 0.000 0 0.000 0 0 Kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) 1.736 0.021 25 0.022 113 262 Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) 19.545 0.238 195 0.174 60 375 Bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) 16.810 0.204 7 0.006 525 752 Mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) 5.080 0.062 52 0.046 35 385 Salish sucker (Catostomus catostomus) 34.513 0.420 275 0.246 76 365 Speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus) 1.757 0.021 390 0.348 42 125 Cotidae spp 2.786 0.034 176 0.157 35 191 Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) 0.479 0.006 19 0.017 79 160 Total 82.227 1.000 1120 1.000
CUSHMAN FISHERIES Photo: Steven Rosenow 24
CUSHMAN FISHERIES Photo: Steven Rosenow 25
CUSHMAN FISHERIES Photo: Steven Rosenow 26
ANADROMOUS FISH PASSAGE Photo: Fish Eye Guy Photography 27
ANADROMOUS FISH PASSAGE Photo: Fish Eye Guy Photography 28
ANADROMOUS FISH PASSAGE Estimated return at 22,200 (27.5% lake survival, 4% ocean survival) Photo: Fish Eye Guy Photography 29
ANADROMOUS FISH PASSAGE Estimated return at 22,200 (27.5% lake survival, 4% ocean survival) Ocean survival among sockeye populations 0.2% to 23.5% Photo: Fish Eye Guy Photography 30
ANADROMOUS FISH PASSAGE Estimated return at 22,200 (27.5% lake survival, 4% ocean survival) Ocean survival among sockeye populations 0.2% to 23.5% Return rate - 1,100 to 130,000 adult fish Photo: Fish Eye Guy Photography 31
ANADROMOUS FISH PASSAGE Kokanee? Sockeye? Photo: Fish Eye Guy Photography 32
RESIDENT TROUT FISHERIES Cushman settlement: 33,333 pounds of rainbow trout stocked in area lakes Annual stocking of 11,667 pounds into Lake Kokanee Monitoring: Creel Survey 2012-2014, every 5 years thereafter 33
LAKE KOKANEE FISHERY MONITORING # of days of creel surveys 2012 2013 2014 Holiday 3 3 3 Weekday 8 10 12 Weekend 8 10 12 Grand Total 19 23 27 May 15-Sept 15 April 15-Sept 15 March 1- Sept 15 34
CPUE (fish/hour) LAKE KOKANEE FISHERY MONITORING 2 1.8 1.6 1.4 2012 2013 2014 Linear (2012) Linear (2013) Linear (2014) 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 3/12 4/1 4/21 5/11 5/31 6/20 7/10 7/30 8/19 9/8 Date 35
CPUE per Angler party (fish/hour) Rainbow trout per stocking LAKE KOKANEE FISHERY MONITORING 4.00 3.50 Daily mean CPUE per angler party 3500 3000 3.00 2500 2.50 2.00 1.50 2000 1500 1.00 1000 0.50 500 0.00 2/25/2014 4/1/2014 5/6/2014 6/10/2014 7/15/2014 8/19/2014 Date 0 36
37 QUESTIONS?