A telemetry study was conducted during August–December 2020 to evaluate behavior and movement patterns of adult smallmouth bass (
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Satellite image of Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Washington-Oregon, 2020 Google Earth™. Inset photograph of a smallmouth bass, by Gabe Hansen, U.S. Geological Survey, November 10, 2011.
We thank the following U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees for assistance with field activities: Kristen Kerns, Katie Richwine, Dan Carlson, Bill Gardiner, Andrew Derugin, and Ida Royer.
Additionally, we thank our colleagues with the U.S. Geological Survey for their efforts with fieldwork including Philip Haner, Brian Ekstrom, Collin Smith, Ryan Tomka and Joe Warren. Fish handling and tagging protocols for the Western Fisheries Research Center were followed during this study.
Multiply | By | To obtain |
Length | ||
---|---|---|
mile (m) | 1.609 | kilometer (km) |
Flow rate | ||
cubic foot per second (ft3/s) | 0.02832 | cubic meter per second (m3/s) |
Multiply | By | To obtain |
Length | ||
---|---|---|
millimeter (mm) | 0.03937 | inch (in.) |
kilometer (km) | 0.6214 | mile (mi) |
kilometer (km) | 0.5400 | mile, nautical (nmi) |
Volume | ||
liter (L) | 33.81402 | ounce, fluid (fl. oz) |
liter (L) | 0.2642 | gallon (gal) |
milliliters | 0.0338 | ounce, fluid (fl. oz) |
Mass | ||
gram (g) | 0.03527 | ounce, avoirdupois (oz) |
Bonneville Dam, which was authorized by the Flood Control Act in 1938 (Public Law No. 761, House Resolution No. 10618), was the first dam constructed on the Columbia River along the Washington and Oregon border. The dam is a multipurpose facility that consists of the first and second powerhouses, old and new navigation locks, and a spillway (
Numerous investigations have been done since 1997, and in 2012 a remedial investigation report (
Major structures and islands at Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon. Satellite imagery 2018 Google Earth™.
1. Satellite image showing major structures and islands at Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon
Angling was used to collect adult smallmouth bass for acoustic tagging. A total of 40 acoustic transmitters were purchased for the study. Smallmouth bass were collected, tagged, and released in the same zone of the study area. Because the cleanup site is located primarily along the north shore and eastern tip of Bradford Island, the largest number of acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass (18 smallmouth bass) were from the North Bradford Island zone (13 smallmouth bass) and East Bradford Island zone (5 smallmouth bass;
Locations where smallmouth bass were collected, tagged, and released (small dots) for an acoustic telemetry study upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Release location groups (ellipses) and total number of fish released in each location (numbered dots) also are shown. Satellite imagery 2018 Google Earth™.
2. Satellite image showing locations where smallmouth bass were collected, tagged, and released for an acoustic telemetry study upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
Tagging and handling procedures were identical for all tagged smallmouth bass. Once smallmouth bass were captured, they were placed in an insulated cooler filled with fresh river water that received supplemental oxygen continuously. The capture locations were recorded on a Global Positioning System and the smallmouth bass were transferred by boat to a nearby tagging station. At the tagging station, the smallmouth bass were placed in a 20-liter (L) anesthetic bath (3 milliliters AQUI-S 20E® per 10 L river water, AquaTactics Fish Health, Kirkland, Washington). When the smallmouth bass seemed disoriented enough for tagging, they were removed from the bath, measured for total length (in millimeters), visually evaluated for condition, and transferred to a lower-dose (2 milliliters AQUI-S 20E® per 10 L river water) anesthetic bath. Smallmouth bass were oriented at an angle, head down, submerged in the bath with the ventral side up and the incision area exposed to air. A longitudinal incision was made to penetrate the peritoneum, the transmitter (Model SS400 Advanced Telemetry Systems, Inc., Asanti, Minnesota 0.210 grams weight in air, 15.0 × 3.3 millimeters) was gently inserted in the abdominal cavity, and the incision was closed with a single suture. Smallmouth bass were then transferred to the transport container, allowed to regain equilibrium, taken back to the collection site, and released.
A total of 15 monitoring sites were deployed upstream from Bonneville Dam to detect tagged smallmouth bass (
Receivers were positioned to detect smallmouth bass in specific zones of interest in the forebay of Bonneville Dam; these zones were previously described in the “Smallmouth Bass Collection and Tagging” section of this report. Multiple receivers were required to provide adequate coverage in most zones and were grouped as follows: (1) receivers 12 and 15, providing coverage in the North Shore zone; (2) receiver 11, providing coverage in the Boat Island zone; (3) receivers 8, 10, 13 and 14, providing coverage in the Goose Island zone; (4) receivers 3 and 9, providing coverage in the East Bradford zone; (5) receivers 6 and 7, providing coverage in the Cascades Island zone, (6) receivers 4 and 5, providing coverage in the North Bradford Island zone; and (7) receivers 1 and 2, providing coverage in the South Bradford Island zone (
Locations of acoustic telemetry monitoring sites and approximate detection ranges in the forebay of Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, August–December 2020. Actual detection ranges of telemetry receivers exceeded ranges shown here. Satellite imagery 2018 Google Earth™.
3. Satellite image showing locations of acoustic telemetry monitoring sites and approximate detection ranges in the forebay of Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, August–December 2020
Acoustic telemetry data records were downloaded weekly from each receiver, compiled in a single dataset, merged with tagging and release data, and processed to create a final dataset for analysis. Processing involved (1) evaluation of completeness to ensure that data gaps were not present; (2) removal of false-positive detection events (defined as transmitter detections recorded on a telemetry receiver when the transmitter was not present at the site), which are common in active telemetry systems (
Smallmouth bass behavior was assessed by describing the zones in which individual tagged smallmouth bass were detected and calculating elapsed time of detection for each smallmouth bass in specific zones of detection. These data were combined for smallmouth bass within each release zone to determine the percentage of smallmouth bass from each group that were detected in each zone and to summarize the percentage of time spent in those zones.
Researchers collected a total of 40 smallmouth bass that were tagged with acoustic transmitters and released for monitoring in the forebay of Bonneville Dam (
1. Summary of collection dates, number of smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released and range of total lengths for smallmouth bass collected in the forebay of Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
[mm, millimeter; Aug, August; Sep, September]
Collection area | Start |
End |
Number of smallmouth |
Range of total |
North Shore | Aug 28 | Aug 31 | 5 | 230–390 |
Boat Rock | Aug 28 | Aug 31 | 5 | 238–375 |
Goose Island | Aug 28 | Sep 01 | 5 | 266–399 |
East Bradford Island | Aug 28 | Aug 31 | 5 | 260–372 |
Cascades Island | Sep 18 | Sep 22 | 5 | 277–402 |
North Bradford Island | Sep 17 | Sep 28 | 13 | 229–417 |
South Bradford Island | Sep 21 | Sep 22 | 2 | 306–395 |
A total of 36 of the 40 tagged smallmouth bass were detected on telemetry receivers in the study area. This provided detection histories that contributed to better understanding smallmouth bass movement patterns in the study area. Bass were detected from August 28 to December 16, 2020, with a mean detection duration (elapsed time from release to last detection) of 53.3 days (range = 2.3–88.7 days). Sixteen tagged smallmouth bass moved downstream out of the detection array and nine smallmouth bass moved upstream out of the array (
2. Summary of last-known detection areas for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, August–December 2020
[
Release location ( |
Area of last detection | ||||
Upstream from array | Downstream from array, Powerhouse 1 | Downstream from array, Powerhouse 2 | Downstream from array, Spillway | Within array | |
North Shore (5) | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Boat Rock (5) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Goose Island (5) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
East Bradford Island (5) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Cascades Island (5) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
North Bradford Island (13) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 |
South Bradford Island (2) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tagged smallmouth bass from the various zones in the Bonneville Dam forebay generally showed high site fidelity and limited dispersal to other zones. Tagged smallmouth bass were detected most frequently at receivers located near their point of release. Plots showing average residence times at each detection site for individual release groups show that smallmouth bass spent the most time at sites located near their release site, and detection duration generally decreased with increasing distance from the release site. Summaries of detection histories for tagged smallmouth bass released in specific zones are discussed in subsequent sections.
Route-specific discharge at Bonneville Dam through Powerhouse 1, Powerhouse 2, and the spillway; and the timing of when tagged smallmouth bass moved upstream or downstream from the telemetry array, Columbia River, Oregon, during September–December 2020.
4. Graph showing route-specific discharge at Bonneville Dam through Powerhouse 1, Powerhouse 2, and the spillway; and the timing of when tagged smallmouth bass moved upstream or downstream from the telemetry array, Columbia River, Oregon, during September–December 2020
All five of the tagged smallmouth bass released in the North Shore zone were detected on receivers in the North Shore zone, two tagged smallmouth bass were detected in the Boat Rock zone, and one tagged smallmouth bass each was detected in Goose Island and North Bradford Island zones (
3. Number of acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass detected in detection zones in the forebay of Bonneville Dam during August–December 2020
[
Release location ( |
Detection zone | ||||||
North Shore | Boat Rock | Goose Island | East Bradford Island | Cascades Island | North Bradford Island | South Bradford Island | |
North Shore (5) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Boat Rock (5) | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Goose Island (5) | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
East Bradford Island (5) | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Cascades Island (5) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
North Bradford Island (13) | 1 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 5 |
South Bradford Island (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
4. Percentage of time acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass spent near fixed telemetry sites in the forebay of Bonneville Dam during August–December 2020
[
Release location ( |
Detection zone | ||||||
North Shore | Boat Rock | Goose Island | East Bradford Island | Cascades Island | North Bradford Island | South Bradford Island | |
North Shore (5) | 95.1 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 |
Boat Rock (5) | 0.8 | 14.1 | 84.9 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 |
Goose Island (4) | 11.5 | 0 | 86.3 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 |
East Bradford Island (5) | 0 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 70.0 | 0.5 | 23.8 | 1.8 |
Cascades Island (4) | 0 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 88.1 | 5.8 | 2.8 |
North Bradford Island (11) | 0.4 | 2.2 | 7.1 | 22.3 | 22.2 | 37.7 | 8.0 |
South Bradford Island (2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.3 | 0 | 0 | 97.7 |
Mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released in the North Shore zone, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Squares indicate the release locations of individual smallmouth bass. Base map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0; base map data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
5. Image showing mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released in the North Shore zone, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
All five of the tagged smallmouth bass released in the Boat Rock zone were detected on receivers in that zone and in the Goose Island zone (
Mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at Boat Rock, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Squares indicate the release locations of individual smallmouth bass. Base map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0; base map data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
6. Image showing mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at Boat Rock, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
Smallmouth bass released in the Goose Island zone predominantly remained within their release zone. Four of the five tagged smallmouth bass were detected in the Goose Island zone (
Mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at Goose Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Squares indicate the release locations of individual smallmouth bass. Base map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0; base map data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
7. Image showing mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at Goose Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
Most of the tagged smallmouth bass released in the East Bradford Island zone were detected in nearby zones but these smallmouth bass primarily resided in their zone of release and in the North Bradford Island zone. All five tagged smallmouth bass were detected in the East Bradford Island zone, and four tagged smallmouth bass from that release group also were detected in the Goose Island, Cascades Island, and North Bradford Island zones (
Mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at East Bradford Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Squares indicate the release locations of individual smallmouth bass. Base map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0; base map data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
8. Image showing mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at East Bradford Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
Four of the five smallmouth bass tagged and released in the Cascades Island zone were detected on receivers near the release site (
Mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at Cascades Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Squares indicate the release locations of individual smallmouth bass. Base map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0; base map data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
9. Image showing mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at Cascades Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
Eleven smallmouth bass tagged and released in the North Bradford Island zone were detected in the North Bradford Island and East Bradford Island zones and 10 of the smallmouth bass were detected in the Cascades Island zone (
Mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at North Bradford Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Squares indicate the release locations of individual smallmouth bass. Base map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0; base map data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
10. Image showing mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at North Bradford Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
The two smallmouth bass released in the South Bradford Island zone were both detected in that zone and in the East Bradford Island zone (
Mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at South Bradford Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020. Squares indicate the release locations of individual smallmouth bass. Base map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0; base map data by OpenStreetMap, under ODbL.
11. Image showing mean residence time at telemetry monitoring sites for acoustic-tagged smallmouth bass collected, tagged, and released at South Bradford Island, upstream from Bonneville Dam, Columbia River, Oregon, during August–December 2020
Results from the telemetry study showed that tagged smallmouth bass primarily had high site fidelity in the forebay of Bonneville Dam during fall months in 2020. Nearly all (95 percent) of the smallmouth bass that were collected, tagged, and released in various zones of the study area subsequently were detected on receivers located within their respective zone of release, and data from 90 percent of the tagged smallmouth bass contributed to behavior and movement information collected during the study. For all zones, except the Boat Rock zone, tagged smallmouth bass spent the greatest percentage of time in their zone of release, ranging from 37.7 percent for smallmouth bass released in the North Bradford Island zone to 95.1 percent for smallmouth bass released in the North Shore zone. Smallmouth bass released in the Boat Rock zone spent a relatively small percentage of time (14.1 percent) in their release zone, but all five smallmouth bass were detected in the Goose Island zone where they spent most of their time (84.9 percent). Smallmouth bass that moved outside their zone of release were most likely to be detected in adjacent zones. For example, 2 of the 5 smallmouth bass tagged and released in the North Shore zone were detected in the Boat Rock zone, but none of the North Shore-released smallmouth bass were detected in the East Braford, Cascades Island, or South Bradford Island zones. Similarly, most smallmouth bass tagged and released in the North Bradford Island zone were detected in nearby East Bradford Island (11 smallmouth bass) and Cascades Island (10 smallmouth bass) zones, whereas few smallmouth bass were detected farther away in Goose Island (3 smallmouth bass) or North Shore zones (1 smallmouth bass). These findings suggest that smallmouth bass primarily remained near where they were collected, tagged, and released during the study period.
We found that some tagged smallmouth bass eventually moved upstream or downstream out of the monitoring array and failed to return during the study period. One-fourth (9 smallmouth bass) of the tagged smallmouth bass moved upstream and out of the array. Smallmouth bass with this behavior originated from every zone of interest, except for the South Bradford Island zone (in which only two tagged smallmouth bass were released). A greater percentage of tagged smallmouth bass (44.4 percent; 16 smallmouth bass) moved downstream out of the array and did not return. These smallmouth bass originated from all zones except for Boat Rock and Goose Island. These upstream and downstream movements may be related to seasonal migrations that occur when smallmouth bass move to locate overwintering habitat (
Data collected during this study provided unique insights into smallmouth bass behavior during fall months in the forebay of Bonneville Dam, but these findings likely do not apply to other times of the year. Tagged smallmouth bass moved freely between, and spent substantial time in, the Cascades Island, East Bradford Island, and North Bradford Island zones, which are located immediately upstream from the Bonneville Dam spillway. We found that nearly all the tagged smallmouth bass released in each of these three zones were subsequently detected in the other zones within this group and residence time was high at these locations. However, the Bonneville Dam spillway was not operated during this study and smallmouth bass are unlikely to tolerate water velocity increases that occur in these zones when the spillway is operated during other months of the year (
Observations from collection efforts for tagging suggest that the smallmouth bass population is large and broadly distributed throughout the forebay of Bonneville Dam during fall months. Collection efforts for acoustic tagging were unhindered (in any of the zones of interest) by the previous removal of 80 smallmouth bass for contaminant analysis. Furthermore, we never collected previously tagged smallmouth bass although they were confirmed to be present based on telemetry detection records. These observations indicate that a substantial number of smallmouth bass were present in the forebay of Bonneville Dam during this study.
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