range of fixed sho re monito rs were MFR PAPER 1007 automati call y detected a nd th eir presence was recorded o n tape. A fixed monitor sta ti on consisted of a Sonic Tags in Sockeye Salmon, receiver-tapedeck unit on shore con­ nected to two hydrophones placed Oncorhynchus nerka, Give Travel Time in the wate r. By proper placement of Through Metropolitan Waters the pair of hydrophones under water. the direction in whi ch the fi h were travell in g could be determined and KENNETH L. LlSCOM recorded. Ti me refere nce mark were recorded o n the tape to provide a c hro nol ogical record o n the entry and departure of the fish at specific areas. INTRODUCTION sockeye salmon from the Hiram M . Three shore-based recording moni­ Chillenden Locks into Lake Wash­ tors were used to determine timing Sonic tags were insert ed in the ington . a study was made in the of sockeye salmon between the locks stomachs of sockeye salmon returning summer of 1971 by the orthwest a nd (Figure I) . In from the Pacific Ocean to a large lake Fisheries Center. National Marine addition. nine fish were individually (3 x 30 km: 80 m deep) adjacent to Fisheries Service. in cooperation tracked to determine their patterns of . Wah. These fish contribute with WDF. movement between monitors. located to a growing sport fishery. and State at th ree poi nts: officials were concerned with their EQUIPMENT AND (I) In the Fremont cut (3.7 km rates of tra\el through the water of a PROCEDURES from Locks). metropolitan area. Their travel route (2) under the Interstate 5 Freeway lay between a nd Lake Migration paths and travel rate of bridge 0.1 km from Lock). and Washington. a distance of about 10.5 fis h were determined b) mean of a (3) at the east end of the Montlake sonic tag placed in the stomach. The km. cut (9 .0 km from Locks). From initial plantings in the 1930·s. tag had a high-frequency sound trans­ returns of sockeye salmo n to Lake mitter that o perated on a carrier fre­ Each monitor was en iced dail). at Washington rose from a few th ousand quency of 70 k H z. The transmitter which time the used portion of the fish to well over the 100.000 le\el in was batter) -powered with a trans­ recording tape was remo ved and In­ the past several year. In 197 I. esti­ mitting li fe of 3 weeks. Transmitter terrogated . mates placed the returns at approxi­ and battery were sealed ina plastic Three groups of five sockeye al­ mately 250.000 fis h . capsule 73 mm long and 19 mm in mon were tagged with sonic tags and To enter the lake from Puget Sound. diameter (Figure 2A). The tag emit­ released . For identification of indivi­ fish must travel through the Lake ted a pul e-coded ignal: thu . a num­ dual fish. each tag wi thin a group Washington Ship Canal (Figure I)' ber of tags (and fish) could be indi vidu­ transmitted at a different pulse rate. including parts of . Be­ a ll y identified. Once a group was released. the fish cause the Canal IS a relatively shallow Tag signals were monit ored from were monitored until all had pa sed passageway. surrounded by heavy an o pen boat (with a portable hydro­ th e stud) area. after which a subse­ industrial and urban development. phone and receiver (Figure 2 B)) a nd quent group wa released. the Washington State Department of by fi;..ed recordi ng moni tors o n shore. Fi h for study were captured by Fisheri es (WDF) wa concerned that The receiver was a self-contained WDF per o nnel with a purse seine the mi gration of the fi h might be de­ unit that a mplified th e signal from the fis hed in salt l water bel ow the dam at layed o r subjected to harmful environ­ hydrophone a nd converted it to an the C hittenden Locks. After the fish mental conditions. audible to ne. By rotating the direc­ were tagged . they were transported To determine travel time of the tional hydrophone in the water. whi le and re leased immediately a bove the liste ning for th e loudest to ne. the dam into the fresh I water of the Lake operator could determine th e direc­ Washington Ship Canal. Kenneth L. Liscom is a member tion of the tagged fish from his posi­ I Some mixing of fresh with salt water un­ of the staff of the Northwest tion . Directi o na l ranges of 1.6 km doubtedly occurs below the dam . With the Fisheries Center, National Ma­ reverse applYing In the area Immediately above rine Fisheries Service, NOAA, (I mile) could be obta ined with th e the dam due to frequent lockages . Essentially. hydropho ne . waler below Ihe dam IS predominantly salt. 2725 Montlake Bl vd. E., Seattle, whereas that Immediately above IS primarily WA 98112 Tagged fish approaching within fresh

38 Puget

Freeway Bridge (I - 5)

c: 0

c:'" .c: If) T 0 • Mon itor ~ I ., I kilometer ... 0 -.J

Figure 1.-Lake Washington Ship Canal : Puget Sound to Lake Washington.

Foll owing release. the fi rst fis h to second and thi rd tag releases, we tag­ sage times fo r the fis h of the three begi n movin g away fro m the lock ged o ne sockeye ·salmon with a the r­ groups a re shown in T a ble I. area was tracked e ither until it ent e red mal (temperature-sensitive) tag and La ke W ashingto n, o r until ni ght fa ll. released it directl y into Lake Wash­ Tracks interrupted by darkness we re ingto n . T hi s gave us an opportunity resumed at dawn the fo ll owing day. to observe the depths and temperatu re Travel Patterns As each tagged fis h ente red the lake, ra nges of the water. Temperature data the tracker wo uld return to the ship received from the tag were correlated Basicall y, the patte rn of travel fo r canal a nd locate the next fi sh coming with the lake's temperatu re profiles. the fi rst two grou ps was the same. through and proceed to track it. Re­ T he fi sh hesitated at the locks but, maining tagged sockeye were tracked once o n their way, te nded to move fro m time to time to check their pro­ RESULTS steadil y (except for periods o f dark­ gress. This procedure was repeated ness). keeping primarily to th e north until all fi sh had reached Lake W ash­ F ive soni c-tagged sockeye salmo n sho re. ingto n. Surveys o f Lake W ashingto n were released on each of the foll owin g During the th ird tracking period were also made to determine the di s­ dates-July 6, 13, and 27, 197 I. The (27 Jul y) , the fis h delayed in two areas: tribution o f tagged fi sh . average size o f the tagged fi sh was ( I) between the locks and Ballard During the interval between the 58.4 cm (23 in ches fork length). Pas- Bridge ( 1.5 km from the locks) and (2)

39 A

Figure 2.-A. Sonic lag with componenls oul­ side Ihe capsule and a packaged lag ready for use. B. Hydrophone, recelYer, and ear­ ...... phones used 10 locale sonic lags when track­ ing salmon from a boat.

~~ .... in Lake Union . f\lanj fish \.\.ere ~een ,. Jumping a nd roiling In the~e t\.\.o area~ during the third tracking period hut not during the first t\.\.o penods Water temperature~ \.\.ere higher during the thml tracl,lng penod (F-ig­ ure 3). Surface temperature at time of tl~h capture \\a, 134 helo\.\. the locks and:! 1.1 C above l ake nlon wrface temperatures reached a peak of :!3A dunng the third penod. urface temperatures taken on 8 J ul} \.\.ere I I 7 C belo\.\. the locks : 16:! C aho\e the lock~. ahd 17.:! C In Lake nlon While surface temperature~ became qUite high later In July . the bottom areas remained fairl) cool ( 14 ). The ockeye salmon \.\.Ith the ther­ mal tag \.\.as follo\.\.ed for I:! hours and 45 minutes In Lake Washington This fish remained north of the \er­ green POint Floating Bndge. mo\ I ng east about :!OO meters past the dra\.\. span and then back to Web ter POlnt­ In the area traversed \\ere trom ~ I 2 and to depth \\as l.olllplcted \\ithln a a movement of appro'\lmately 4 km to 614 m The fish spent ,'2 percent fe\\ sec{)nds merall. of the recorded time het\\een 5 and Mean depth occupied \\as :! m 10 m In a temperature la\er from Distribution of Tagged Fish In a temperature stratum of 15 13 .4 to 16.7 . It \\as ob~ened In Lake Washington vertical movement ranged from the ascending to the surface on four oc­ surface to 17. 1m. M a'\i mum depths casions: movement to the surface Three sune}s \\ere made of fish dlstnbutton In Lake \\ ashlngton Table 1.-Passage times for sonic-tagged sockeye salmon trayeling from Horam M. Chittenden (Figure 4) On 9 Jul y. the lake north Locks 10 Lake Washington, 1971. of the \ergreen POi nt Bndge \\a~ Group Tag I ngress to Lake Washln\1ton Total passage lime and dale code Dale Time Days Hours Minutes .. 1. 6 July 7-6 1900 8 7-6 1945 8 45 II A"91111 4 7-7 0600 19 22 3 7-7 1200 1 29 J"I, 5 7-7 23 ' + u II 13 July 3 7-14 0610 20 26 19 1 7-14 2 1 + + 5 7-14' 1 + + 2 7-15 0930 1 23 46 4 7-15 1715 2 7 31

1I1,27July 1 _3 2 7-29 1720 2 6 40 3 8-4 1545 8 5 5 5 8-7 1445 11 4 5 " 4 8-14 0230 17 15 50

I Nol recorded on monitor tape (probably o bscured by boat motor nOise) Date of ~ IL,,_, ~,--~-L~'~~5--~6~7L-~~--I~O--ILI~'2 passage estimat ed from data on the monitor below Freeway Bridge DEPTH ( melers 1 2 Not recorded on M ontlake cut monitor . T ime estimated from data on the m Onitor below Freeway Bridge. Figure 3.-Water temperatures and depth in 3 Tag malfunctioned Immediately after release. Lake Union, 1971.

40 found in the 9 Jul) une) \\ e re a ll SUMMARY from the initial g roup. tagged a nd re­ leased above the lock o n 6 Jul y. Ra te of movement of socJ..c)e ,allll­ >---+--+--+T o n through the LaJ..e Washlngtl)n To OO t d Soc ke ye o I 2 3 Local lo n, KIlometers Four tagged fish were located o n 26 Ship Canal appeared related to tlillC • 9 July .0. 26 July July w hen the la ke a rea was search ed of migration. arl) 111 Jul) . thc f1,h a 2 AU9 usi sout h of the Evergreen P o int Bridge: moved \\ithout dela) from the Hiram M. C hittenden LocJ..s into LaJ..e Wa,h­ ( I) west shore of Mercer Island ington. By mid-month thc) \\cre ,ttll Ship about 6 km south of the Evergreen moving well but ~ho\\ed a tendcne\ tL) Conol Point Bridge. slo\\- down . At the end of Jul) and In (2) about mid-l ake 9 J..m out h of earl) August. a pronounced dela) 111 the Evergreen P o int Bridge and off movement \\a~ noted. with the li,h Bail y Point (Seward P a rJ.. l. holding in two locations: (3) about 90 m off west hore of Lake Washingto n. 12 km south of the ( I ) between the Locks a nd the Evergreen P o int Bridge in the Rainier . and District. and (2) in LaJ..e nion . (4) about .+ 50 m off southeast tip of lercer Island in the ea~t channel. All fish tracJ..ed fa\ored the north T agged fish at locations (I) and (.+) ~hore. I\lo\ement through the FrclllL1I1t had the same code. which indicated cut and I\ lontlaJ..e cut \\-as stead) and one of the tags was from the 6 Jul) fairl, rapid. tagging. The north end of the laJ..e Surface temperatures in LaJ..e Union was not surveyed on 26 Jul,. increased from 17.2 to ~3'+ C from 6 Jul) to I I August. Temperature\ Figure 4.- Locations of tagged sockeye sa lmon On 2 August. the entire lake was a t 6 m i ncrea ed from 16 .7 to 20.6 C. during t hree surveys (9 July, 26 July, and 2 and those a t or ncar the bottom (7-12 August 1971) in Lake Washington . surveyed and three tagged fish were found in the southern area (south of m) remained at 13 .9 C. the Evergreen Point Bridge): One socJ..eye salmon. carr) II1g a temperature-senslli \ e tag. mo\ cd at a ( I) 30 m offshore from M adrona mean depth of R.2 m: it fa\orcd a earched a nd three fish with sonic Pa rk (about mid\\-a, bet\\-een the t\\-o stratum of 15.0 C Sc\eral rapid mo\c­ tag were found: Lake W ashington floating bridge l. ments to the surfacc and return to (2) 15 m off west shore of tercer depth were ob~ened . ( I) 2 km offshore and we t o f Kirk­ Is land (appro:-..imatel) mid-islandl. and Limited ~uney~ of LaJ..e Wa,hlng­ land. Wash ington (mid-lake and ap­ (3) I km off southwest tip of Mer­ ton indicated that the distribulion 01 proximate ly 3 km north of the Ever­ cer Island. tagged fish was \\-idepread. e'pe­ green Point Bridge). ciall)' earl) in the run \\-hen tagged II,h (2) 90 m offshore from 1\ loss Bay o tagged fish were found in the were found In the north end L)I the at Kirkland. and no rthern part of the laJ..e. While some la J..e. The tendenc). ho\\e\er. \\3' fL)r (3) 15 m o ff extreme northwest of these fish may ha\e been tagged the fish to concentrate 111 the \outh shore of Lake Washington (Sheridan earli er. it is more liJ..el) that a ll the end of the laJ..e 111 the \ Icinlt) of Cedar Beachl. appro'\imately II km north of tagged fish located during the third Ri\er. the pnnclpal ocJ..eye spa\\ nll1g the Evergreen P o int Bridge. Fish urve) came from the 27 Jul) tagging. tream enten ng LaJ..e Wash i ngton

MFR Paper 1007. From Marine Fisheries Review. Vol. 35, No . 9, 1973. Copies of this paper, in limited numbers, are available from 083, Technical Information D,v,sion, Environmental Science Information Center, NOAA , Washington , DC 20235.

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