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The Team recommends the development of different 

 parental stocks, experimentation with different release ages, 

 experimentation with releases into different lakes, and 

 comprehensive monitoring of all the broodstock strategies. 



DOWNSTREAM 

 MIGRATION 



The Team recommends several major types of action for 

 improving downstream migration survival: extend the 

 survival research to individual stream reaches, improve 

 water budget volumes (and their use) to provide the 

 maximum benefit for salmon, reduce dam passage mortality, 

 improve the salmon transportation program, and investigate 

 longer-term actions to improve smolt survivzil. 



The absence of supporting scientific information was a 

 recurring problem the Team faced in establishing the 

 strategies and specific tasks for recovery. For downstream 

 passage, continuation and expansion of the current survival 

 studies is mandatory. The results of this research will help 

 develop water budget priorities, determine the effectiveness 

 of flow augmentation, and provide a benchmark for 

 evaluating transportation improvements. 



To improve water budget management and maximize 

 migrant survival, the Team recommends that the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service coordinate all water budget 

 releases. The National Marine Fisheries Service should be 

 in charge of releasing water from Dworshak Reservoir in 

 Idaho. The Team believes that Dworshak Reservoir should 

 be operated to give first priority to threatened and 

 endangered salmon. Flow augmentation has been an 



important component of the region's fisheries management 

 strategies, and it continues to be an important part of the 

 Team's recovery recommendations. The use of reservoir 

 water for flow augmentation will change as future 

 information is collected and decisions are made as to what 

 flows are needed to achieve the various individual biological 

 objectives. 



The Team believes the Northwest Power Planning Council's 

 water budget concept is valid in that it allows for real-time 

 decision making as the actual flow and fish migration 

 conditions evolve. As these conditions develop in a 

 particular water year. National Marine Fisheries Service and 

 the Salmon Oversight Committee must determine how best 

 to use reservoir storage. For example, in a year with early 

 runoff, the best course of action may be to save the water 

 until flows are low and fish are still migrating in the river. 

 In other years, it may be necessary to use the water early to 

 offset a cold spring and delayed natural runoff. In high 

 runoff years it may be unnecessary to use the water in the 

 spring. Instead, it can be saved for release in July, August, 

 and September in order to determine the value that reservoir 

 temperature modification has for fall chinook salmon 

 juveniles and adults. Water, like any scarce resource, 

 should be managed continuously throughout the year, and 

 real-time decisions based on the best scientific information 

 and judgment are the best way to ensure that the available 

 water provides the maximum biological benefit. 



Because there is a lack of information on which to base a 

 scientific decision on the size and timing of the water 

 releases, the Team used the water budget volumes that are 

 included in the Northwest Power Planning Council's 

 Strategy for Salmon as a starting point. However until 

 additional research is conducted, it is impossible to 

 determine whether these volumes (and the timing of their 

 releases) are the best possible for improving smolt survival. 



Spill for juveiule passage at a dam. 

 (NMFS Photo) 



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