header
Volume 2013/14, Issue 6 
December 10, 2013
signup
field notes
 Find us on Facebook   View our photos on flickr   View our videos on YouTube   Follow us on Twitter
In This Issue
Stanislaus River Weir Adult Migration Monitoring
Tuolumne River Weir Adult Migration Monitoring
Mokelumne River Fish Ladder Monitoring
San Joaquin Basin Escapement Surveys
Calaveras River Juvenile Migration Monitoring
San Joaquin River Conditions
Delta Exports
events

Fish Passage Design & Engineering Field School
January 14-16

links

  Photo by FISHBIO

Key Highlights
November 11, 2013 - December 1, 2013

 

Stanislaus River Weir Monitoring continued and 5,256 Chinook salmon have passed upstream through the weir this year.

Tuolumne River Weir Monitoring continued and 3,622 Chinook salmon have passed upstream through the weir this year.

Mokelumne River Woodbridge Dam Fish Ladder Monitoring continued and 11,814 Chinook salmon passed upstream of the dam this year.

 

San Joaquin Basin Escapement Surveys conducted by California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) continued through the week of November 25.

 

Calaveras River Juvenile Migration Monitoring continued at Shelton Road (RM 28) and a total of 8 O. mykiss were captured, increasing the season total to 26. A total of two Chinook salmon were captured, increasing the season total to 11.

 

San Joaquin River Conditions. San Joaquin River flow at Vernalis ranged from 1,040 cfs to 1,307 cfs. Daily average water temperature in the San Joaquin River ranged from 52.2�F to 57.6�F at Vernalis, and from 53.1�F to 58.5�F at Mossdale. Daily average dissolved oxygen (DO) in the San Joaquin River ranged from 10.0 mg/L to 10.5 mg/L at Mossdale, and from 8.4 mg/L to 9.1 mg/L in the deep-water ship channel (measured at Rough 'n Ready Island).

Delta Exports.
Combined total exports (state and federal pumps) fluctuated during the reporting period, ranging from 1,948 cfs to 5,047 cfs.

2013 Stanislaus River Weir Adult Migration Monitoring 

 

A total of 948 Chinook salmon were detected passing upstream of the Stanislaus River Weir (RM 31) between November 11 and December 1, increasing the season total to 5,256 (Figure 1). Daily passage ranged between 17 and 137 Chinook salmon. Daily passage will continue to decrease in December and year-to-date passage in 2013 is lower than during the same period in 2012 when 6,904 Chinook salmon were counted through December 1 (Table 1).

 

Five O. mykiss were detected passing upstream during the reporting period, increasing the season total to eighteen.

 

Instantaneous water temperature measured at the weir ranged between 50.1˚F and 55.7˚F, and daily average water temperature at Ripon (RPN; RM 15) ranged between 51.4˚F and 56.7˚F (Figure 3). Instantaneous turbidity ranged between 0.51 NTU and 2.31 NTU (Figure 4). Instantaneous dissolved oxygen at the weir ranged between 9.55 mg/L and 13.24 mg/L, and daily average dissolved oxygen at Ripon (RPN; RM 15) ranged from 9.23 mg/L to 10.58 mg/L (Figure 5).

 

Daily average flows in the Stanislaus River at Goodwin Dam (GDW; RM 58) ranged from 203 cfs to 261 cfs. Flows at Ripon (RIP; RM 15) ranged from 250 cfs to 335 cfs (Figure 1). Note: flows downstream of Goodwin Dam may differ from dam releases due to irrigation, precipitation, and other factors.
 


Table 1. Annual fall-run Chinook passage at the Stanislaus River weir, 2003-2013.
   

 
Figure 1. Cumulative passage of fall-run Chinook salmon recorded at the Stanislaus River weir from 2003-2013. 
 

Figure 2. Daily upstream Chinook passage at the Stanislaus River weir in relation to daily average flows (cfs) recorded in the Stanislaus River at Goodwin (GDW) and Ripon (RIP), 2013.

Figure 3. Daily upstream Chinook passage recorded at the Stanislaus River weir in relation to instantaneous water temperature recorded at the weir, and daily average water temperature recorded in the Stanislaus River at Ripon (RPN), and in the San Joaquin River at Vernalis (VER), Mossdale (MSD) and Rough & Ready (RRI) in 2013.

  

Figure 4. Daily upstream Chinook passage at the Stanislaus River weir in relation to instantaneous turbidity recorded at the weir in 2013.

 

Figure 5. Daily upstream Chinook passage at the Stanislaus River weir in relation to instantaneous dissolved oxygen recorded at the weir, and daily average dissolved oxygen recorded in the Stanislaus River at Ripon (RPN), and in the San Joaquin River at Mossdale (MSD) and Rough & Ready (RRI) in 2013.

2013 Tuolumne River Weir Adult Migration Monitoring

A total of 789 Chinook salmon were detected passing upstream of the Tuolumne River Weir (RM 24) between November 11 and December 1, increasing the season total to 3,622 (Figure 1). Daily passage ranged between 10 and 109 Chinook salmon (Figure 6). Daily passage continues to decrease and year-to-date passage is higher than any other year and is nearing the highest season total observed since monitoring began in 2009 (Table 2).

 

No O. mykiss have been detected at the Tuolumne River weir this season.

 

Daily average flow in the Tuolumne River ranged from 162 cfs to 168 cfs at La Grange (LGN; RM 50) and 185 cfs and 258 cfs at Modesto (MOD; RM 17) (Figure 7). Note: flows downstream of La Grange may be higher than dam releases due to accretion and Dry Creek inflow.

 

Instantaneous water temperature measured at the weir ranged between 53.6˚F and 59.5˚F and daily average water temperature at Modesto (MOD; RM 17) ranged between 52.0˚F and 56.5˚F (Figure 8). Instantaneous turbidity ranged between 0.65 NTU and 3.28 NTU (Figure 9), and instantaneous dissolved oxygen ranged between 8.48 mg/L and 13.58 mg/L (Figure 10).

Table 2. Annual Fall-run Chinook salmon passage, 2009 - 2013.

Figure 6. Fall-Run Chinook salmon cumulative passage recorded at the Tuolumne River Weir in 2009 - 2013.
Figure 7. Daily upstream Chinook passage at the Tuolumne River Weir in relation to daily average flows (cfs) recorded in the Tuolumne River at La Grange (LGN) and Modesto (MOD), and in the San Joaquin River at Maze Road Bridge (MRB) and Vernalis (VNS) in 2013.

Figure 8. Daily upstream Chinook passage at the Tuolumne River Weir in relation to instantaneous water temperature recorded at the weir, and daily average water temperature recorded in the Tuolumne River at Modesto (MOD) and in the San Joaquin River at Maze Road Bridge (MRB), Vernalis (VER), Mossdale (MSD) and Rough & Ready (RRI) in 2013.

Figure 9. Daily upstream Chinook passage at the Tuolumne River Weir in relation to instantaneous turbidity recorded at the weir in 2013.

Figure 10. Daily upstream Chinook passage at the Tuolumne River Weir in relation to instantaneous dissolved oxygen recorded at the weir, and daily average dissolved oxygen recorded in the San Joaquin River at Mossdale (MSD) and Rough & Ready (RRI) in 2013.


2013 Mokelumne River Fish Ladder Monitoring  

Fall-run Chinook salmon returning to the Mokelumne River are counted annually by East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) as they ascend the fish ladder at Woodbridge Dam. Video monitoring continued during the reporting period and 4,648 Chinook salmon were observed passing upstream of the dam between November 11 and December 1, increasing the season total to 11,814 (Figure 11). Daily passages ranged between 15 and 955 Chinook salmon.

During the reporting period, daily average flow in the Mokelumne River fluctuated between 254 cfs and 284 cfs at Camanche Reservoir (CMN).

 

Figure 11. Daily upstream Chinook passage recorded at the Woodbridge Dam fish ladder in relation to daily average flows (cfs) recorded in the Mokelumne River at Camanche Reservoir (CMN) in 2013.

San Joaquin Basin Escapement Surveys
 

Annual carcass surveys conducted by CDFW continued through the week of November 25. Counts of live fish observed on the Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced rivers have been decreasing since the week of November 11 when peak live counts were 630, 673 and 597 Chinook salmon, respectively.

Redd counts have also been decreasing since the week of November 11 and a total of 705 redds were observed on the Stanislaus River, 541 on the Tuolumne River, and 452 were recorded on the Merced River. The number of redds observed for the fall-run season will continue to decrease through the end of December.

 

A total of 392 females have been spawned at the Merced River Fish Facility (MRFF) as of December 1. A total of 298 females had been spawned by this time last year.


2013/14 Calaveras River Juvenile Migration Monitoring
 

The Calaveras River rotary screw trap at Shelton Road (RM 28) operated eleven days between November 11 and December 1 and a total of 8 O. mykiss were captured, increasing the season total to 26. Daily catches ranged from 0 to 3 individuals (Figure 1), and all O. mykiss captured were Age 1+ (100-299 mm) and were rated as silvery parr. Average forklengths and weights of O. mykiss are provided in Table 3.

Two Chinook salmon were captured, increasing the season total to eleven.

 

Instantaneous temperature recorded at the trap ranged from 49.4�F to 55.4�F, and turbidity ranged from 0.52 NTU to 2.38 NTU. During the reporting period, daily average combined flow from New Hogan Dam (NHG) and Cosgrove Creek (COS) ranged between 24 cfs and 54 cfs, and at Bellota (MRS) flow ranged between 1 cfs and 29 cfs (Figure 12).

Table 3. Biosampling data for O. mykiss captured at Shelton Road between November 11 and December 1, 2013. Parenthesis indicates range.


Figure 12. Daily O. mykiss catch at Shelton Road, and Calaveras River flow recorded by New Hogan Dam (NHG) and Cosgrove Creek (COS) combined and flow recorded at Bellota (MRS), in 2013.

San Joaquin River Conditions
 
During the reporting period, flow in the San Joaquin River at Vernalis ranged from 1,040 cfs to 1,307 cfs (Figure 13). Water temperature in the San Joaquin River ranged from 52.2�F to 57.6�F at Vernalis, from 53.1�F to 58.5�F at Mossdale, and from 55.3�F to 58.7�F at Rough 'n Ready Island (Figure 14). Average daily dissolved oxygen (DO) in the San Joaquin River fluctuated from 8.4 mg/L to 9.1 mg/L in the deep-water ship channel (measured at Rough 'n Ready Island), and from 10.0 mg/L to 10.5 mg/L at Mossdale (Figure 15).
 

Figure 13. San Joaquin River flow at Vernalis from December 1, 2012, and December 1, 2013.

    
Figure 14. San Joaquin River daily average water temperature at Vernalis, Mossdale, and Rough 'n Ready from December 1, 2012, and December 1, 2013.


Figure 15. San Joaquin River daily average dissolved oxygen at Mossdale and Rough 'n Ready, from December 1, 2012, and December 1, 2013.


Delta Exports

Mean daily pumping at the C.W. Jones Pumping Plant (federal pumps previously known as Tracy Pumping Plant) ranged from 983 cfs to 2,528 cfs (Figure 16). Mean daily pumping at the Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant (state pumps) ranged from 960 cfs to 2,708 cfs. Combined total exports (state and federal pumps) during this period ranged from 1,948 cfs to 5,047 cfs.

Figure 16. Daily exports at the state and federal pumping stations from December 1, 2012, and December 1, 2013. 

Come and see what's going on at FISHBIO.com and follow us on Find us on Facebook View our photos on flickr View our videos on YouTube
Also, sign up and get the latest news and information with our email newsletter.

Data Disclaimer:  The data displayed on the FISHBIO website are courtesy of California Department of Fish & Game (CDFG), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), Tri-dam, Turlock Irrigation District (TID), Modesto Irrigation District (MID), East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and FISHBIO.  Data are intended to be current, but are preliminary and are not guaranteed to be accurate.  Source data compiled and provided by FISHBIO, from whom further information can be obtained.  Use or reproduction of this data is prohibited without prior permission.