Use of quantitative fish assemblage data for assessing river restoration
Brandon Kulik Kleinschmidt Associates 11 diadromous fish species connect the Penobscot River and Gulf of Maine ecosystems:
•Atlantic salmon •Rainbow smelt •American shad •Striped bass •Alewife •Tomcod •Blueback herring •Atlantic sturgeon •Sea lamprey •Shortnose sturgeon •American eel Dams, water pollution and over fishing virtually eliminated sea-run fish above Bangor in the Penobscot River
Species Historic Current Potential
River herring 14-20 million Below 1,000 4-6 million
Atlantic salmon 75–100,000 Approx. 1,300 10,000-12,000
American shad 3-5 million Near 0 1.5 million The project takes four major obstacles to fish passage and leaves only one dam on the lower river that will have a state-of-the-art fish lift installed. Existing Unimpeded Access for Sea-Run Fish
East Branch Penobscot River
Diminished use of upstream spawning habitat by salmon and other sea-run species; Mattawamkeag River Underused state of reduced trophic integrity the art upstream fish passage
Pleasant River West Enfield Piscataquis River Howland
Old Town Veazie and Great Works Orono dams - Little if any passage Little or no commercial, of shad, alewife, blueback Bangor recreational, or tribal herring, striped bass, sustenance fisheries sturgeon, smelt, and tomcod, Penobscot River impaired passage of eels Bucksport Significantly Improved Access for Sea Run Fish to nearly 1,000 miles
Restored use of upriver rearing habitat East Branch Penobscot River for salmon, shad, blueback herring, and nursery habitat for juvenile eels. Increased biomass and native ecosystem productivity Mattawamkeag River
Bypass Howland dam Atlantic salmon and eel passage Pleasant River West Enfield Piscataquis River Howland Install state of the art passage at Milford salmon, shad, alewife, blueback herring, and eels. Old Town Orono Restored commercial, Bangor Remove 2 dams - Full restoration recreational, and tribal of historical habitat and access for sustenance fisheries. Penobscot River salmon, shad, alewife, blueback herring, eel, striped bass, Bucksport sturgeon, smelt, and tomcod. Areas of Hydraulic Change/No Change
5.6 miles of change (Orange) 33.6 miles no change (Green) Partners in the Penobscot River Restoration Project
Penobscot River Restoration Trust Biological criteria are increasingly needed to evaluate restoration projects:
• Water quality • Riparian buffers • Habitat connectivity/dam removal • Habitat restoration
Biotic Community Condition [Specific to Ecotype] LOW 1 normal densities; organism taxonomic composition; extremealterations from structure; wholesale changes in changes in Extreme major groupsfrom that expected; organism conspicuously unbalanc ed distributionof Sensitive taxa markedly diminished; propagation threshold CWA& protection Natural structural,functional, 2 Bio-Condition Gradient Conceptual Model Bio-Condition Gradient be present; ecosystem level functions are fully maintained be present;ecosystemlevelfunctions are incidental anom or biomass; no taxa & Structure andfunction similar ton Human Disturbance Gradient Human Disturbance 3 (Davies and Jackson, 2006) (Davies andJackson, maintained through redundant attributes of the system. maintained throughredundantattributes of relative abundance; taxa; shiftsin structure due Evident changesin condition is often poor; 4 and taxonomic integrity is preserved. taxonomic integrityis and ecosystem functions largelymaintained. expected taxa; all overall balanceddistribution of tolerant taxa; more of sensitiveubiquitoustaxaby Moderate changes structure duetoreplacementin 5 build up or export ofunusedmaterials. or build up redundancy; increased complexity and stress; ecosystem function showsreduced condition shows signsofphysiological atural community with some additional atural communitywithsome alies; sensitivenon-nativetaxamay 6 toloss of somerarenative ecosystem levelfunctionsfully extremely altered. ecosystem functions are anomalies may be frequent; HIGH Common Ecological Indicator Tools
• Multimetric: Index of Biotic Integrity
• Multivariate: RIVPACS (Wright et al. 1984), BEAST (Reynoldson 1990), etc. – applied to macroinvertebrate assemblages in UK, Canada, Australia, NZ; introduced to U.S. by Hawkins; recent use by some states.
• Discriminant Function: (Davies et al. 1994) – applied to macroinvertebrates; adopted in Maine Water Quality Standards. Maine-wide IBI Program Over 300 sampling sites 2002-2007
Major watersheds:
• Penobscot 2004 & 2007 • Kennebec • Androscoggin • Saco • St Croix • St John/Allagash • Presumpscot IBI model for cold water assemblages Currently developed; undergoing peer review Condition of the Biotic Community Conceptual Model: Maine Coldwater Rivers Conceptual Model:Maine [Moderate-High Gradient Riverine Ecotype] LOW 1 (enrichment); species richness reduced in some cases some (enrichment); speciesrichness reducedin numerous become may species predominate and Native diadromous species ra tolerant and moderately tolerantspecies; tolerant and absent, replaced by cyprinids are native interventions; some if presentby Native diadromous sp shad, American eel, brook trout, n species diadromous Native inlandfreshwater& 2 populations may co-occur with brooktrout. Same as tier 1 except: non-native sal Human Disturbance Gradient Human Disturbance 3 ecies are absent or ecies are reduced or replaced by non-nati replaced by reduced or towards intermediatetolerancesa Some native diadromous species re orabsent; tolerant 4 ative cyprinids, white & longnose sucker) ative cyprinids,white& eurytherms present; anomaliespresent. brook troutareabsent; non-native mesotherms & absent; moderatelytolerantspecies predominate; Some native diadromous species are rareor 5 monid species with naturalized (Atlanticsalmon,alewife, American predominate; anomalies present. non-native eurytherms usually non-reproducing; salmonids are troutareabsent; non-native brook 6 ve naturalized salmonid species. ve naturalizedsalmonid are reduced in abundance; shifts nd mesotherms;brooktroutare anomalies frequent. eurytherms predominate; (toxic impacts); non-native HIGH • Upper River & tributaries – Oligotrophic – Cold water (brook trout/salmon) ecosystem – Forested – high gradient geomorphology – Relatively pristine • Middle river – Mesotrophic – warmwater ecosystem – Alosid and eel nursery habitat – Low gradient / floodplain geomorphology – Urban – industrial-hydropower – Large tributaries
• Tidal-Freshwater river – Mesotrophic – Freshwater & estuarial ecosystem – Coastal lowland geomorphology – Rural Warm water and tidal freshwater assemblages Still require further Biological Condition Gradient calibration Penobscot IBI Goals
• Refine & apply overall methodology for the Penobscot restoration
• Collect data for IBI metrics & further index development
• Collect data to document ecological response to restoration
• Collateral support of other studies and management Sampling Methods
Standardized Approach: • Highly mobile, cost-effective watershed-scale coverage • Pulsed D.C. boat electrofishing – minimizes gear bias • Custom built survey craft adapted to Maine river conditions • Consistently repeatable sampling • Benchmarked sampling stations • Sampling guided by a QAPP
• Species-rich habitat types
• 1,000 m-long stations
• Boat maneuvered to thoroughly sample each site
• Geo-referenced sample site location and sample track
• Late spring and summer
• Fish identified to species and lifestage, enumerated, and weighed
• Length data only on spatially abundant species 2008-2009 pre-project baseline 19 IBI sites sampled twice annually Status • Methodology Refinement: – Tributary vs. mainstem sampling – Spring and fall survey timing – Diurnal and tide stage issues below Veazie – Cathode and anode configuration – Site access • Data Collection – 19 permanent monitoring stations established (2 added in 2009) – Data gathered successfully at each station – Collateral support for other research & management • Anadromous population genetics • Stable isotopes analysis • Size spectral analysis • Spatial distribution of American eel • Radio tagging of American shad • Monitoring for invasive species – Abundance and distribution of restoration and invasive species Challenges
• Navigability and safety • Timing and coordination vs. field conditions
• Quantify anadromous component of fish assemblage • Develop IBI BCG model for tidal & warmwater ecosystem Baseline observations thus far
• Diadromous fish • Relict populations consistently detectable • Most abundant below Veazie; but detectable throughout study area • Greatest bio-productivity and diversity • below Veazie • in fluvial vs. impounded habitats • Constraints evident due to existing habitat fragmentation • Non-indigenous species • smallmouth bass widespread • largemouth bass increasingly common • no northern pike (yet) Diadromous Fish
Percentage of diadromous species in fish assemblages between Bangor and Howland, Maine, 2008, based on relative biomass. Jun-08 100 VEAZIE DAM Sep-08
80 GREAT WORKS DAM
60 MILFORD DAM
Howland 40 tailwater
20
0 -9.9 -8 -6.4 -0.6 0 1 11 17 26 River Mile Downstream bottleneck IMPOUNDMENT
6% 7% smallmouth bass adult redbreast sunfish adult American eel juvenile 42% 16% white sucker adult smallmouth bass juvenile sea lamprey juvenile redbreast sunfish juvenile 28% Bio-productivity
Comparison of relative biomass of fish assemblages in contiguous tailwater and impoundment samples at three dams, Sept. 2009.
40,000 Tailwater
30,000 Impoundment 20,000 21,737 18,528 10,000 1,760 10,957 11,642 9,650 0 Veazie Great Works Howland
Comparison of relative biomass of fish assemblages in contiguous tailwater and impoundment samples at three dams, June 2008.
40,000 Tailwater 30,000 33,691 Impoundment 20,000 21,212
10,000 12,696 3,570 3,903 6,564 0
Veazie Great Works Howland Physical barriers
Non-indigenous species distribution Indigenous species distribution FUNDING AND COLLABORATION
• The Nature Conservancy • NOAA Fisheries • Penobscot River Restoration Trust • US EPA • ARRA
• Penobscot Indian Nation • Maine DMR • Maine DIFW • University of Maine • DSSRN • Midwest Biodiversity Institute Questions ?
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