FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 78. NO. 2 



study (Park^^) being conducted at Lower Granite 

 Dam (about 200 km upstream from Ice Harbor 

 Dam) by NMFS should provide further informa- 

 tion on this subject. Preliminary data obtained 

 from adult steelhead and chinook salmon return- 

 ing to Lower Granite Dam show that transport/ 

 control ratios (2.5-2.7:1) obtained from experi- 

 ments in 1975 and 1976 are similar to those ob- 

 tained at Little Goose Dam. Insufficient data art 

 available at this writing to determine variations 

 in ratios from the lower river to the estuary or to 

 determine degree of straying. 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



The main objectives of the research at Little 

 Goose Dam were to determine the effect of trans- 

 portation on homing and survival of juvenile 

 chinook salmon and steelhead collected at Little 

 Goose Dam and released downstream and to com- 

 pare these results with an earlier study done at Ice 

 Harbor Dam where fish were transported a shorter 

 distance. The data clearly show that homing abil- 

 ity was not seriously diminished in either chinook 

 salmon or steelhead, and that survival of both 

 species was increased by transporting the fish to 

 release locations downstream from Bonneville 

 Dam. 



A comparison of the results of this study with an 

 earlier study done by Ebel et al. (1973) and by 

 Slatick et al. ( 1975) at Ice Harbor Dam indicates 

 that the effect of collecting the fish about 130 km 

 farther upstream did not seriously diminish their 

 homing ability in comparison with homing ability 

 obtained in the experiment at Ice Harbor Dam. 

 The increases in survival of transported fish noted 

 in the study at Little Goose Dam were also similar 

 to those noted at Ice Harbor Dam, but estimated 

 percentage return of chinook salmon was substan- 

 tially lower than that achieved at Ice Harbor Dam. 

 Observations made throughout the study indi- 

 cated that chinook salmon returns might be in- 

 creased by reducing injury or stress during diver- 

 sion, collection, and handling process. 



The main conclusions bearing on the effect of 

 transporting juveniles from Little Goose Dam to 

 release locations downstream from Bonneville 

 Dam were: 



1) Analysis of transport/control ratios obtained 



"Donn L. Park, Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center, Natl . 

 Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, 2725 Montlake Boulevard East, Seat- 

 tle, WA 98112, pers. commun. December 1977. 



from returning adults indicated that returns from 

 naturally migrating juvenile chinook salmon and 

 steelhead that were transported from Little Goose 

 Dam to release locations downstream from Bon- 

 neville Dam were increased from 1.1 to 15 times in 

 the fishery and to Little Goose Dam. 



2) A significant (P<0.01) difference in benefit 

 from transportation was noted between chinook 

 salmon and steelhead; the greatest return and, 

 hence, the greatest benefit occurred with 

 steelhead. 



3) Homing of adult fish that had been collected 

 as juveniles at Little Goose Dam and transported 

 several hundred kilometers downstream to Bon- 

 neville Dam apparently was not seriously di- 

 minished although a small portion (P<0.02%)of 

 the transported adult chinook salmon was known 

 to have strayed. 



4) There was no significant (P <0.05) difference 

 in adult returns from two release sites tested (Dal- 

 ton Point and Bonneville Dam) of either steelhead 

 or chinook salmon. 



5) Timing of migration of juvenile migrants 

 was not related to timing of adult returns to Little 

 Goose Dam. 



6) Neither size nor ocean age of adult steelhead 

 transported experimentally as juveniles was sig- 

 nificantly (P<0.05) different from controls. Thus 

 transporting the fish did not appear to affect either 

 size or age of returning adult steelhead. 



7) Although size of adult chinook salmon 

 transported as juveniles was not significantly 

 (P<0.05) different from controls, ocean age was. 

 Transportation, therefore, may have influenced 

 ocean age of returning adult chinook salmon. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I thank Donn Park and Emil Slatick of the 

 Northwest and Alaska Fisheries Center, NMFS, 

 NOAA, for their help in carrying out the opera- 

 tions involved in collecting, marking, and hauling 

 of the thousands of fish involved in this experi- 

 ment and for their help in compiling the data for 

 analysis. I also wish to thank all of the personnel 

 of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Oregon 

 Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington De- 

 partment of Fisheries, and the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service for their cooperation in obtaining 

 adult recoveries. I particularly wish to thank 

 Frank Ossiander, Northwest and Alaska 

 Fisheries Center, NMFS, NOAA, for his advice 

 regarding statistical analysis; Craig MacPhee, 



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