Migration of Hatchery and Wild Steelhead Smolts from the Kalama River in 2009

Genetic and ecological interactions between hatchery and wild salmonids have been widely debated and studies are numerous (Leider et al. 1984, Chilcote et al. 1986, Leider et al. 1986, Leider et al. 1990, McMichael et al. 1997, Kostow et al. 2003, Kostow and Zhou 2006, Sharpe et al. 2007). A long-term investigation of steelhead interactions on the Kalama River was initiated in 1975 by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (then Department of Game: Chilcote et al. 1980).

A juvenile outmigrant monitoring component of those investigations in the Kalama River basin began in 1978 as part of a seven-year study by Loch et al. (1985). Use of the traversing fyke net methods developed by Loch et al. outmigrant studies resumed from 1992 to 1994 (Hulett et al. 1995). Juvenile outmigrant trapping was again resumed in the Kalama River in 1998, this time using rotary screw trap gear. This document describes and summarizes the results of rotary screw trapping operations conducted in 2009. This trapping operation provides important baseline data on wild steelhead production and hatchery steelhead outmigration for ongoing studies. The freshwater productivity data will also be used, along with adult return data, to assess steelhead population status and trends in the Lower Columbia ESU. Further, wildbroodstock hatchery programs in the Kalama release winter- and summer-run steelhead and smolt trap operation was a critical tool for evaluation of success of those programs. Specifically the objective of this study was to monitor hatchery and wild juvenile steelhead outmigrants in the Kalama River above Kalama Falls Hatchery (KFH).