Juvenile Salmon Use of Sinclair Inlet, Washington in 2001 and 2002
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
STATE OF WASHINGTON MARCH 2006 Juvenile Salmon use of Sinclair Inlet, Washington in 2001 and 2002 by Kurt L. Fresh, Doris J. Small, Hwa Kim, Chris Waldbilling, Michael Mizell, Mark I. Carr, and Lia Stamatiou WashingtonWashington DepartmentDepartment ofof FISHFISH ANDAND WILDLIFEWILDLIFE FPT 05-08 JUVENILE SALMON USE OF SINCLAIR INLET, WASHINGTON, IN 2001 AND 2002 By Kurt L. Fresh1 Doris J. Small2 Hwa Kim3 Chris Waldbillig3 Michael Mizell3 Mark I. Carr4 Lia Stamatiou5 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Technical Report No. FPT 05-08 Olympia, WA 1- Current Address: NOAA Fisheries, NWFSC; 2725 Mountlake Blvd. E.; Seattle, WA; 98112; ([email protected]) 2- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Habitat Program; 502 High Street, Suite 112, Port Orchard, WA 98366 3- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Fish Program; Science Division; 600 Capital Way N.; Olympia, WA; 98501 4-Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Point Whitney Shellfish Lab, 1000 Point Whitney Rd, Brinnon, WA, 98320-9799 5- University of Washington, School of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, WET, Seattle, WA MARCH 2006 Table of Contents Table of Contents............................................................................................................................. i List of Tables .................................................................................................................................iii List of Figures................................................................................................................................. v List of Appendices ........................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................viii Executive Summary....................................................................................................................... ix I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 II. Description of Study Area...................................................................................................... 4 III. Methods ................................................................................................................................ 7 III. A. Sources of Wild and Hatchery Salmon using Sinclair Inlet......................................... 7 III. A. 1. Naturally spawning salmonids in Sinclair Inlet ................................................... 7 III. A. 2. Hatchery sources of salmonids in Sinclair Inlet.................................................. 8 III. B. Sampling Littoral Zone Habitats................................................................................ 10 III. B.1. Regular beach seines (RBS)............................................................................... 10 III. B. 2. Mark recapture beach seines (MR) ................................................................... 13 III. C. Sampling Offshore Habitats....................................................................................... 15 III. C. 1. Surface tow nets (STN)...................................................................................... 15 III. C. 2. Purse seines ........................................................................................................ 18 III. D. Residence Time and Migratory Behavior of Hatchery Chinook Salmon .................. 18 III. D. 1. Marking methods ............................................................................................... 18 III. D. 2. Release groups ................................................................................................... 19 III. D. 3. Mark detection ................................................................................................... 21 III. D. 4. CWT recovery and analysis ............................................................................... 21 III. E. Analysis of Catch Data............................................................................................... 22 III. F. Habitat Inventory........................................................................................................ 24 III. G. Diets of Juvenile Chinook Salmon and Potential Competitors and Predators........... 25 IV. Results and Discussion ....................................................................................................... 27 IV. A. Littoral Zone Habitats................................................................................................ 27 IV. A. 1. Characteristics of sampled sites......................................................................... 27 IV. A. 2. General species composition ............................................................................. 27 IV. A. 3. Juvenile Chinook salmon: abundance patterns.................................................. 37 General.......................................................................................................................... 37 Effects of Tide and Time of Day .................................................................................. 37 Differences Between North and South Shorelines........................................................ 41 Temporal Trends........................................................................................................... 43 Differences Between Sites: Effects of Littoral Zone Habitat Characteristics.............. 44 IV. A. 4. Juvenile Chinook salmon: Size Trends.............................................................. 46 IV. B. Offshore Habitats ....................................................................................................... 54 IV. B. 1. Surface Waters: Surface tow net collections..................................................... 54 IV. B. 2. Offshore: Purse seine collections...................................................................... 61 IV. C. Residence Time of Hatchery Chinook Salmon Released From Gorst Creek ............ 62 Juvenile Salmon Use of Sinclair Inlet, Washington, in 2001 & 2002 March 2006 i IV. D. Recoveries of Coded Wire Tagged Chinook and Coho Salmon ............................... 64 IV. E. Habitat Surveys .......................................................................................................... 69 IV. F. Food Habits of Juvenile Chinook Salmon, Juvenile Chum Salmon and Cutthroat Trout...................................................................................................................................... 71 IV. F. 1. General Diet Characteristics............................................................................... 71 Juvenile Chinook Salmon ............................................................................................. 71 Juvenile Chum Salmon ................................................................................................. 78 Cutthroat Trout.............................................................................................................. 78 IV. F. 2. Factors Affecting Diet of Juvenile Chinook Salmon ......................................... 82 IV. F. 3. General Discussion of Food Habits................................................................... 85 V. Overall Discussion............................................................................................................... 88 VI. Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 94 VII. Literature Cited ................................................................................................................. 96 VII. Appendices...................................................................................................................... 101 Juvenile Salmon Use of Sinclair Inlet, Washington, in 2001 & 2002 March 2006 ii List of Tables Table 1. Summary of juvenile salmonids released near Sinclair Inlet ....................................... 9 Table 2. Beach seine sites used in text table data analysis in 2001 and 2002........................... 12 Table 3. Mark recapture beach seine sites and sampling dates in Sinclair Inlet 2002.............. 14 Table 4. Summary of sampling efforts for surface tow net sampling in Sinclair Inlet, 2002... 17 Table 5. Summary of fluorescent marked fish for juvenile Chinook salmon mark recapture study in Sinclair Inlet, 2002........................................................................................ 21 Table 6. Prey taxa in diet of juvenile Chinook salmon by ecological prey category................ 26 Table 7. Summary of fish catches for all sampling methods in Sinclair Inlet 2001 and 2002 . 30 Table 8. Summary of coho and chum salmon, and forage fish catch for regular beach seine sampling in 2001......................................................................................................... 31 Table 9. Summary table of coho and chum salmon, and forage fish catch during regular and mark recapture beach seine sampling in 2002 ............................................................ 32 Table 10. Summary of Chinook salmon catch for all sampling methods in Sinclair Inlet, 2001 and 2002...................................................................................................................... 37 Table 11. Effect of tide on CPUE of juvenile Chinook salmon for beach