Juvenile Chinook Survival and Migration Through the San Joaquin River Restoration Area During Flood Flow Releases, Spring 2011

Stationary acoustic telemetry receivers were deployed within the San Joaquin River Restoration Area from Friant Dam to the confluence of the Merced. Acoustic tracking was used to assess survival through mining pit habitats suspected to be sources of predation, at unscreened diversions, in both bypasses and the river channel at critical decision points for juveniles attempting to emigrate from the system to the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta and to the Ocean. 200 Feather River Hatchery fall-run Chinook juveniles were acoustically tagged and released in a larger group of coded wire tagged juveniles. Releases were made in two locations in the river to assess alternative pathways available during flood flow releases. Fish were released in April of 2011 and final receiver downloads were completed in August of 2011. This presentation highlights preliminary data collected and plans for continued study in the coming years.