Habitat Use of Juvenile Chinook Salmon in Lake Washington and the Ship Canal

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Fish and Wildlife Employees

• Chris Allar • Andrea Henton • Richard Piaskowski • Matthew Arasim • Jack Holbrook • Jon-Michael Pratt • Eric Bixler • Jonathan Hyde • Benjamin Price • Becky Braley • Nathan Hyde • Sharon Rainsberry • Eleanor Bosman-Clark • Christine Iverson • Sean Rubey • Sergio Camacho • Kevin Kennedy • Scott Sanders • Steven Celedonia • Hwa Kim • Briana Shrier • Bob Clement • Dan Lantz • Jamie Sproul • Hilary Collis • Tracy Leavy • Tracey Scalici • James Curtis • Fan Lee • Julie Scheurer • Steve Damm • Terence Lee • Lauren Seyda • Steve Dilley • Zhuozhuo Li • James Steele • Emily Dunklee • Zuma Martin • Eric Tallman • Tay Dunklee • Charles McCoy III • Brad Thompson • Molly Ehlert • Linda Moore • Heather Tschaekofske • William Gale • Eric Myers • Lindsy Wright • Howard Gearns • Thomas Mohagen • Bob Wunderlich • Ian Grettenberger • Sedge Neil • Mathew Wynn • Stephen Hager • Kenneth Ostrand • Matthew Zimmer • Roger Peters Acknowledgements Seattle Public Utilities – SPU Keith Kurko, Julie Crittenden, Michele Koehler

US Army Corps of Engineers – USCOE Fred Goetz Washington State Department of Transportation – WSDOT Phil Bloch King County

City of Mercer Island

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife – WDFW

University of Washington – UW

City of Renton

Hydroacoustic Technology Inc – HTI

Muckleshoot Tribe – MIT Study Objective • Determine habitat requirements of juvenile Chinook salmon in Lake Washington and Ship Canal – Determine relationship between habitat use and shoreline development – Identify potential types of restoration activities and monitor ongoing restoration projects – Determine habitat use of key predators of juvenile Chinook salmon – Determine movement patterns of emigrating Chinook smolts – Evaluate fish passage of Chinook salmon at the Ballard Locks Timeline • 2001-2005 - Early rearing period in nearshore areas – primarily south Lake Washington

• 2004-2008 – Smolts - movement and habitat use in Lake Washington and Ship Canal

• 2004-2008 - Habitat use and seasonal movement of predatory fishes in Lake Washington and Ship Canal

• 2007-2008 – Movement patterns of smolts and predatory fishes at SR 520 Bridge Reports: www.fws.gov/wafwo/fisheries/wwfish_pub4.html [email protected] [email protected] Juvenile Chinook Salmon - Methodology February -April Snorkeling

April-May Snorkeling

May-July Acoustic tracking Distribution and Habitat use of Juvenile Chinook Salmon in Nearshore Areas of Lakes in Western Washington Lake Washington Basin

Bear Creek

Lake Sammamish

Issaquah Creek

Cedar Falls

Landsburg Chinook Hatcheries Dam Cedar River Chinook Outmigration

Migration of juvenile Chinook out of the Cedar River and into Lake Washington; based on WDFW

fry/smolt traps at the mouth Migration

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Juvenile Chinook groups

• Lake Washington – Cedar River fry - early migrants – Cedar River pre-smolts – late migrants – Bear Creek fry – early migrants – Bear Creek pre-smolts – late migrants – Issaquah Creek pre-smolts (hatchery and wild) • Lake Sammamish – Issaquah Creek fry – early migrants – Isaquah Creek pre-smolts (hatchery and wild) Fresh et al. 1999-2000, WDFW Lake Washington Littoral zone Pelagic zone Juvenile Chinook

February-April

Littoral zone Pelagic zone

May-June Outline • Depth selection • Distribution • Substrate use • Overwater structures and armoring • Woody debris • Emergent and overhanging vegetation • Artificial lighting • Non-natal tributaries Depth distribution

Water column depth South Lake Washington Night snorkeling/scuba diving: 0–3 m deep 0.80 c 0.70 0.60 0.50 b 0.40 a 0.30

0.20 Mean depth (m) (m) depth Mean 0.10 0.00 March 10 April 7 May 12 N = 31 40 46 Mean length (mm) = 43 50 92 South Lake Washington Dawn surface feeding activity

Depth category (m)

1 0-0.5 0.5-1 0.8 1-2 0.6 2-3 0.4 3-4

Selectivity Selectivity (α) 0.2 4-5

0 F M A M M Feb Mar Apr May Jun Chinook distribution South Lake Washington - night snorkeling February 4 – May 27, 2003

2 0.6 y = -0.14Ln(x) + 0.36 R2 = 0.81 0.4

0.2 Chinook/m 0 0 5 10 15 20 Shoreline distance to Cedar River (km) Chinook Salmon Nursery Areas February to mid May

Bear Creek Chinook

Cedar River Chinook South Lake Washington

Variables include:

•Substrate use •Use of armored shorelines •Use of overwater structures Substrate selection

0.6

0.5 Day 0.4 March, N = 25

0.3

0.2

0.1

0 Sand Gravel Cobble Boulder Bulkhead 0.6

Selectivityα) ( 0.5 Night 0.4 Feb-March, N = 127

0.3 April-May, N = 360

0.2

0.1

0 Sand Gravel Cobble Boulder Bulkhead Shoreline Armoring 1

0.8 Day

March, N = 25 0.6

0.4

0.2

1 Rip rap Bulkhead No armor

Selectivityα) ( 0.8 Night Feb-March, N = 127

0.6 April-May, N = 360

0.4

0.2

0 Rip rap Bulkhead No armor Overwater Structures

1 Day 0.8 March, N = 25

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 OWS - under OWS - within 5 m Open

Selectivityα) ( 0.8 Night Feb-March, N = 127 April-May, N = 360 0.6

0.4

0.2

0 OWS - under OWS - within 5 m Open Rainier Beach Restoration Site Marina and rip rap replaced with gravel beach

March Night snorkel counts 120 100 control 80 restoration 60

40 Pre-restoration Post-restoration

# # Chinook /m 100 20 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year Seward Park Restoration Sites Substrate replacement

N Natural overhanging vegetation (OHV) with small woody debris (SWD)

SWD and OHV Experiment SWD and OHV Experiment 160 late March-early April 120 Day, n = 10 80 Night, n = 3

40 # # of Chinook 0

SWD Open

SWD/OHV 100 80 May 60 Day, n = 7 40 Night, n = 4

20 # # of Chinook 0

SWD Open

SWD/OHV Juvenile Chinook under OHV Lake Quinault – Habitat Use

Emergent Vegetation

Large Woody Debris Lake Quinault results April 2003 c 2 b 2 1.5

1 ab ab

Chinook / m 0.5 a

Artificial Lighting Experiment February 23, 2005 Mean length – 49 mm FL

15 Number of Chinook of Number 10

0 Control areas Lighted areas 0.2 – 0.3 lux Mean: 5 – 10 lux Max: 80 – 100 lux Non-natal tributaries

Kennydale Creek

Laughing Jacobs Creek

Gene Coulon Park Non-natal tributaries - South Lake Washington - North Lake Washington - South Lake Sammamish

Stream habitat

Convergence Pool Lake Delta reference site Non-natal Tributaries Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish

0.6 March-April May 0.5 June 0.4

0.3

0.2 Chinook m / Chinook 0.1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Small tribs (< 2 cfs) Large tribs (> 2 cfs) Tributary Chinook Abundance in Johns Creek Lower 260 m

700 2003 600 500 400 2004 300

200 Number of of ChinookNumber 100 0 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Johns Creek

• Close to Cedar River • Low gradient • Small to medium-sized • Few other fish present Non-natal Tributary Deltas Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish

1.2 June 1 Lakeshore

2 0.8 Delta

0.6

Chinook / m Chinook/ 0.4

0.2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Tributary Non-natal Tributary Deltas Rain events

40 Base flow Abundance 30 High flow 20

10 Number Number ofChinook

0 May Creek Taylor Creek Bryn Mawr tributary

100

80 Other 60 Oligochaetes Diet Chironomids

40 Percent

0 Baseline Rain event Baseline Rain event

Lakeshore Bryn Mawr trib. Summary

• Juvenile Chinook inhabit shallow waters in the south end of Lake Washington

Non-armored, open sandy beach (Day and night habitat)

Woody debris and Overhanging vegetation (Day habitat) Summary • Juvenile Chinook appear to be attracted to artificial lighting which may increase predation risk

• Non-natal tributaries can provide valuable habitat for juvenile Chinook