Immigration of Juvenile Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) into Riverine Ponds

Abstract

Riverine ponds on the Olympic Peninsula provide important winter refuge for juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). A total of 9530 juvenile coho migrated into two riverine ponds of the Clearwater River in 1977, principally during fall freshets. Extensive movement by marked fish (as much as 32.6 km downstream) before entering the ponds suggests that a system-wide approach to habitat management is important in maintaining freshwater production potential of large river systems.Key words: juvenile coho, immigration, winter behavior, migration, freshet, pond

Winter Disturbances and Riverine Fish in Temperate and Cold Regions

“…Logging activities lower the considerable to complete reductions in densities but were recolonized by small numbers of coho salmon by mid-to late winter. Following a series of winter freshets, Peterson (1982) found the majority of marked juvenile coho salmon sheltering in riverine ponds as far as 33 kilometers downstream from their residential habitats.…”

“…The literature shows a bias in describing physical disturbances to fish and their habitats and neglects the idea that riverine fish communities could also be subject to purely biological Articles to conserve the remaining refugia, to restore those that have been lost, and to reestablish the connectivity between residential habitats and refugia (Skeesick 1970, Bond andLake 2005). A catchmentwide perspective has to be applied, given the large-scale significance of refugia (Peterson 1982). Because many important refugia from winter disturbances form only temporarily (Tschaplinski andHartman 1983, Brown RS et al 2001), they are often underappreciated and are therefore neglected in management and legislation.…”

Juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) growth in off-channel and main-channel habitats on the Sacramento River, CA using otolith increment widths

“…Sommer et al 2001), off-channel ponds (e.g. Peterson 1982), natal tributaries (e.g. Johnson et al 1992), and non-natal tributaries (e.g.…”

Transient storage and hyporheic flow along the Willamette River, Oregon: Field measurements and model estimates

“…Studies have shown that off-channel habitats of various types are important rearing habitat for juvenile fish [Peterson, 1982;Swales and Levings, 1989]. Two anadromous species, steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), were listed in 1999 as threatened species on the upper Willamette River and have been observed preferentially using alcove habitats during winter months (C. Andrus, unpublished data, 1999 To inform future water quality and habitat studies and to improve river system management, this study addresses two questions: (1) Are transient storage in general and hyporheic flow in particular significant processes on the upper Willamette River?…”