Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking A Continental scale acoustic array for tracking the life histories of salmon and other species George D. Jackson POST Senior Scientist

Please include a map Current POST array Alaska Vancouver Island Willapa Bay Columbia River Snake River POST acoustic detection line

2007 POST Scientific Results Currently approaching 4 million detections Currently approaching 4 million detections Ocean rather than freshwater survival is a more immediate problem to salmon smolt survival Ocean rather than freshwater survival is a more immediate problem to salmon smolt survival Stocks tagged show fairly steady levels of ocean survival among years Stocks tagged show fairly steady levels of ocean survival among years Have compared smolt survival in rivers both with and without dams Have compared smolt survival in rivers both with and without dams Can obtain accurate calculation of swimming speed/direction, migration rates and behaviour, and mortality rates in freshwater and on the shelf Can obtain accurate calculation of swimming speed/direction, migration rates and behaviour, and mortality rates in freshwater and on the shelf

2007 Scientific Results Tracking Receiver Modem Vemco VR3 acoustic receiver with underwater modem Flotation collar for permanent line deployment

Major trends in migration behaviour N=597 Rapid vs. intermittent migrators Coho Steelhead Sockeye

Building up a database of survival

POST in the Columbia River POST acoustic detection line Yakima River McGowan’s Channel Lake Celilo Lake Wallula Lake Bryan Bonneville McNary Lower Granite John Day Snake River

Tracking migrating smolts from the Columbia Snake Yakima

Using POST to measure smolt survival

Pressing questions can be addressed Smolts can be tracked seamlessly between freshwater and marine environments POST provides a valuable tool to assess smolt survival in pristine and dammed rivers POST can answer critical questions regarding fish migrations Where is the survival bottleneck? Smolts can be tracked 100’s km’s in freshwater and 1000’s km on the shelf (Columbia-Alaska) In the Columbia in 2006 ~$861 million spent on salmon issues- many still unresolved, POST can help answer questions critical to the Columbia

Steps Toward Project Synthesis POST can now provide comparative estimates of freshwater vs. marine smolt survival – not just tracking movement Ocean mortality is a critical problem facing salmon survival – ocean survival rates of steelhead and coho at extinction levels (southern BC) Smolt survival down the Columbia River through 8 dams is quite high and comparable or better than smolt survival in the Fraser River without dams Accurate calculation of swimming speeds and directional movement now available - fast vs. delayed migrators Expanding the POST array will give us better resolution of marine survival during smolt migration on the shelf and help identify bottlenecks or regions of high mortality that are currently unknown

Other species POST has revealed incredible ocean movements of green sturgeon – Lindley et al. POST has revealed incredible ocean movements of green sturgeon – Lindley et al. Numerous stocks interact in different rivers and estuaries Numerous stocks interact in different rivers and estuaries All green sturgeon stocks studied spent time in Columbia R All green sturgeon stocks studied spent time in Columbia R Move from Sacramento R to the northwest coast of Vancouver Is (sturgeon playground) Move from Sacramento R to the northwest coast of Vancouver Is (sturgeon playground) Record movement from Sacramento R to Alaska ~2700 km Record movement from Sacramento R to Alaska ~2700 km

Three major achievements: 1) 1)Provide a quantitative tool for doing direct experimental tests of hypotheses in the ocean – and through hydrosystems 2) 2)Developing migration pathways of juvenile salmon (certain stocks have their own highways) 3) 3)Develop a communication backbone – a telecommunications infrastructure for delivery of a wide range of ocean data The array can now be used to test long held beliefs on salmon biology and other species (e.g. sturgeon) Science Impact

Societal Impact of Results to Date Sturgeon research will never be the same!! Sturgeon research will never be the same!! POST is addressing intractable Columbia R salmon problems POST is addressing intractable Columbia R salmon problems -results challenge long-held assumptions -demonstrate importance of the ocean to salmon -prove hard problems have tractable solutions Established fisheries agencies are still a challenge Established fisheries agencies are still a challenge -highly conservative -POST needs to demonstrate through example

Project Data Available in OBIS All of POST data from 2004 to last season present on OBIS All of POST data from 2004 to last season present on OBIS POST has a dynamic link to OBIS POST has a dynamic link to OBIS OBIS regularly crawls POST data base –changes passed POST→OBIS OBIS regularly crawls POST data base –changes passed POST→OBIS POST data are summarised by hour (although number of pings recorded) POST data are summarised by hour (although number of pings recorded) 68,510 records 68,510 records data can be displayed as tracks on the OBIS site with online mapping software (ACON mapper) data can be displayed as tracks on the OBIS site with online mapping software (ACON mapper) links to the POST website for people who want to see every ping links to the POST website for people who want to see every ping 2007 data yet to be entered into POST data base 2007 data yet to be entered into POST data base

Education & Outreach New POST web site Over 1 million visitors to Vancouver Aquarium have seen POST animation since new Exploration Gallery opened in Oct 2006 where POST video is viewed with other research on high definition flat screen TV High profile conferences: symposia: AAAS, AFS presentations: PICES, Oceans 2007, MTS/IEEE, OBI, Spain tracking meeting

Next Steps  2010 Publish, Publish, Publish Publish, Publish, Publish Broader acceptance of POST by user community Broader acceptance of POST by user community Joint geographical expansion and fill-in of POST array lines Joint geographical expansion and fill-in of POST array lines Expansion of research program Expansion of research program Work on securing high- level buy-in to make POST sustainable Work on securing high- level buy-in to make POST sustainable

Limits to Knowledge $100m USA, $25m Canada spent annually on salmon hatcheries $100m USA, $25m Canada spent annually on salmon hatcheries -do hatcheries help or hurt? -what role do rearing, disease or genetics play? -POST can assess by direct experimental tests in the ocean Commercial fisheries: $100m+ lost from shutting down fisheries to protect endangered sockeye stocks - POST can distinguish run times between fished and endangered stocks Commercial fisheries: $100m+ lost from shutting down fisheries to protect endangered sockeye stocks - POST can distinguish run times between fished and endangered stocks -Real-time POST data could protect weak stocks Open ocean continues to be a challenge beyond the POST arena -OTN technology developments will help (New OTN geolocation tag → download open ocean data to new generation POST receiver) Open ocean continues to be a challenge beyond the POST arena -OTN technology developments will help (New OTN geolocation tag → download open ocean data to new generation POST receiver)