Pilot Field Trial of the Juvenile Lamprey/Eel Tag and RME Plan to Guide Future Juvenile Pacific Lamprey Acoustic Telemetry Studies
Citation
ZD Deng, PS Titzler, RP Mueller, J Lu, JJ Martinez, T Fu, H Li, JS Cable, KA Deters, JM Hubbard, and AH Colotelo. February 2018. Pilot Field Trial of the Juvenile Lamprey/Eel Tag and RME Plan to Guide Future Juvenile Pacific Lamprey Acoustic Telemetry Studies. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland, Washington.
Summary
In the Columbia River Basin, the Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) is of special concern because their populations have significantly declined in the past 40 years. Construction and operation of hydroelectric facilities may have influenced these declines because they occurred after the period of major hydroelectric development. Knowledge of lamprey behavior and survival are critical for developing mitigation strategies for downstream passage, including the design of bypass systems at hydroelectric facilities and irrigation diversion structures. With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory completed the design of an acoustic [...]
Summary
In the Columbia River Basin, the Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) is of special concern because their populations have significantly declined in the past 40 years. Construction and operation of hydroelectric facilities may have influenced these declines because they occurred after the period of major hydroelectric development. Knowledge of lamprey behavior and survival are critical for developing mitigation strategies for downstream passage, including the design of bypass systems at hydroelectric facilities and irrigation diversion structures. With funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory completed the design of an acoustic microtransmitter (or “tag”) that can be used to study the behavior and survival of juvenile lamprey and eel. The prototype tag (patent filed on December, 2016), measures 2 mm in diameter and 12 mm in length, weighs 0.08 g in air and lasts about 20-30 days at a 5-second pulse rate interval. Its source level is 147 dB re 1 µPa at 1 m. Other features include a configurable pulse rate interval and tag code, optional temperature measurement, alternating tag codes, and hibernation mode. The biological tagging results from implanting juvenile Pacific lamprey in the laboratory environment showed that implantation is not likely to have an adverse impact on fish survival over a 28-day holding period. In the spring of 2017, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory conducted a pilot field study to validate the functionality and evaluate the performance of the new tag when implanted in juvenile Pacific lamprey in field environments of the Columbia River. Three autonomous receiver arrays were deployed from April 9 to June 6, 2017, between McNary Dam and John Day Dam. The first array (rkm 455) was about 1 km downstream of the release location (rkm 456). The second array (rkm 454) had two detection lines (i.e., double array) forming an array capable of three-dimensional tracking. The third array (rkm 449) was 6 km downstream of the second array. A total of 100 juvenile Pacific lamprey (macrophthalmia life stage) were implanted with the tag and released on five different days between April 12 and May 18, 2017. Fish were collected from the juvenile fish facilities at John Day Dam and McNary Dam. They had a median length of 148 mm (range: 140 to 176 mm) and a median mass of 4.6 g (range: 3.1 to 7.5 g). Only two of the 100 tagged fish were not detected at any of the arrays and possibly moved upstream, experienced tag loss, or were lost to predation. At the first two detection arrays (three detection lines) the same 98 tagged fish were detected, resulting in a detection probability of 100% at each of these arrays. Of the 98 fish detected at the first two arrays, 96 were detected at the last array. The two fish not detected at the last array were observed to move between the first and second array multiple times, which may indicate that they were preyed upon. Combining all detections from each of the arrays, the median number of total detections per tag was over 300. The fish were released nearer to the north side of the river, but by the time they reached the last array at rkm 449, their distribution was more concentrated along the south side of the river. Overall, the pilot field trial successfully demonstrated the feasibility of studying juvenile lamprey behavior and survival using this new tag. As part of this project, we also developed a Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Plan to inform planning and prioritization for future juvenile lamprey passage investigations. The goal of the plan is to identify gaps, facilitate discussions among regional managers, ensure that limited resources are applied effectively to inform specific management decisions, and facilitate coordination of the Army Corps of Engineers actions with other regional lamprey conservation and passage interests.
