98 



The Team encourages minimal water budget use in the 

 spring so that more can be used in the summer to aid fall 

 Chinook migrants. The National Marine Fisheries Service 

 and the Salmon Oversight Committee should review the 

 effects of water budget operations on fish survival and 

 determine whether to continue, increase, or decrease the size 

 of the water budgets. 



To reduce dam passage mortality, the Team recommends 

 that all passage routes be evaluated at each dam. Spill from 

 the surface of the reservoir and surface collection facilities 

 should be considered, and state-of-the-art bypass systems 

 should be installed. Detailed, dam-by-dam audits of the 

 bypass and collection systems should be conducted. 



In the Team's view, improved smolt collection at the Snake 

 River dams and transport to the lower Columbia River 

 (along with In-river jnigration when suitable conditions 

 exist) Is the option that must be used until better options are 

 developed. The Team recommends that: the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service should manage the smolt 

 transportation system, the Corps of Engineers should 

 continue to operate the collection and transpon facilities, the 

 biological basis for in-river smolt migration should be 

 developed, the National Marine Fisheries Service should 

 coordinate hatchery releases and logistical strategies for 

 transportation, barges should be designed to lower stress, 

 barge exits should be modified ic allow dispersed release, 

 research should be conducted to evaluate various release 

 sites in the Lower Columbia River, and strategies should be 

 developed to reduce predation in the areas of release. 



Cross-section of a typical 

 (Corps of Engineers) 



One of the Team's longer-term recommendations for 

 the downstream passage problem is to investigate 

 building a new fish-friendly smolt collection system 

 near the head of Lower Granite Reservoir. From 

 there, the smolts could be transported past the dams. 

 A new collection facility of this nature would be 

 needed if sufficient improvements cannot be made in 

 the collection and bypass facilities at the dams, if 

 losses in Lower Granite Reservoir are relatively high 

 (up to 30%), or if flow/velocity changes through the 

 reservoirs are insufficient to create the conditions 

 needed for a high degree of survival. 



The Team has considered, and rejected as a significant 

 recovery action, the current plans to draw down John 

 Day Reservoir below minimum irrigation pool. 

 However, drawdown of Lower Granite Reservoir 

 should be evaluated using survival data that will be 

 collected during the next two to three years to 

 determine if more fish will reach Lower Granite Dam 

 where they can be collected. If the survival data 

 indicate that there might be biological benefits from 



18 



Smolt transportation barges. ( Photo by Evan Greger) 



