1. Acoustic Tag Monitoring for Napa River Steelhead at the Napa Plant Site Year One Preliminary Results Presented to Napa Sonoma Marsh Restoration Group November 17, Presented by Thomas Keegan, Principal Investigator ECORP Consulting, Inc. in association with Duck’s Unlimited NOAA

2. Study Partners Ducks Unlimited NOAA Fisheries
UC Davis Biotelemetry Lab
Napa County Resource Conservation District
Brezina and Associates

3. Study Interests
Contribute to the innovative collection of sound, scientifically based information
NOAA Fisheries is a study participant and has indicated that fish distribution data are necessary for our understanding of how these fish species use restored tidal marsh habitat
Enable NOAA Fisheries and other regulatory agencies to make well-informed decisions regarding potential impacts that proposed restoration activities and other maritime construction activities, may or may not have on special-status species and habitats

4. Background Overarching LTMS and UC Davis/NOAA Study
In 2007, focused on hatchery late fall run Chinook salmon and steelhead (Juvenile Salmonid Outmigration and Distribution Study Design for the San Francisco Estuary)
In 2009, green sturgeon added as a target species
Inception of the California Fish Tagging Consortium (CFTC)
Extensive receiver array (VEMCO equipment)
large influx of tagged fish through system
Centralized database
More recently, tagging of wild fish populations
salmonids and green sturgeon

5. LTMS and UC Davis/NOAA Overarching Study: Initial Receiver Locations

6. Introduction A Story of Partnership
NOAA, funding through ARRA, requires monitoring of special-status fish species in restored tidal marsh habitat
Ducks Unlimited, as grantee, interested in innovative way to track wild Napa River steelhead, and determine use of habitats
Wild Napa River Steelhead Available from Napa County Resource Conservation District

7. Study Objectives
to assess the utilization of restored tidal marsh habitats by special-status salmonids and green sturgeon
to determine the regional effectiveness of tidal restoration efforts on these species
to partner with other study investigators (i.e., participate with the CFTC Central Database maintained by the NOAA Santa Cruz Laboratory)

8. Methods

9. VEMCO Receiver Deployment
10 VR2W receivers installed for NPS Project
2 in Napa River (gate) above NPS
1 Fagan Slough
1 North Unit Breach
1 Center Unit Breach (Barge Canal)
2 South Unit Breaches
1 Dutchman Slough
2 below Tennessee Bridge (gate)
4 VR2W receivers installed for USAR, Mare Island
2 at Mare Island piers 22 and 23
2 at San Pablo Dredge Disposal site (SF9)

10. Receiver Deployment on Piers
Schedule 80 PVC deployment bracket
Attached to pier pilings with large cable ties
Safety lines through PVC and tied to pier pilings
Study identification placard

11. Receiver Deployment Bracket

12. Acoustic Release Device and Setup for Open-water Receiver Deployment

13. Acoustic Tag for Testing Signal Reception

14. Collection of Juvenile Steelhead (actually by NCRCD staff
Collection of Juvenile Steelhead (actually by NCRCD staff!) for Tag and release with VEMCO V7 Tags

15. Acoustic Tags in Antiseptic

16. Implantation of Acoustic Tag into Body Cavity of Juvenile Napa River Steelhead

17. After Recovery from Surgery, Fish is Released at Point of Capture

18. Napa River Steelhead collected from the RST and tagged
Fish ID
Weight (g)
FL (mm)
Release Time
Release Date
NWSTH_001
281.5
305
14:00:00
4/8/2010
NWSTH_002
99.2
212
NWSTH_003
68.3
190
14:25:00
NWSTH_004 46
164
NWSTH_005*
133.8
236
NWSTH_006
81.3
205
NWSTH_007
67.6
193
NWSTH_008
47.8
168
14:40:00
NWSTH_009
124
233
10:12:50
4/20/2010
NWSTH_010
65.6
197
NWSTH_011
89.8
204
NWSTH_012
53.5
173
NWSTH_013
59.2
179
10:42:00
NWSTH_014
62.6
182
NWSTH_015
103.6
213
NWSTH_016
203
NWSTH_017
79.8
200
11:10:00
NWSTH_018
86.8
206
NWSTH_019 54
NWSTH_020
67.5
184
NWSTH_021*
96.2
208
N/A
5/7/2010

19. Preliminary NPS Project Results
Tracked 14 of 20 tagged fish through Napa River, into and through SF Bay
Off-channel habitat usage documented
Tracked 10 Napa River steelhead (50%) through GG Bridge array
Tracked 6 of those fish on Pt. Reyes Array
Numerous tag ID’s from Sac’to River/Delta release (CFTC) documented in vicinity of NPS; including CV steelhead, Chinook salmon, and green sturgeon

20. Napa Plant Site Project Receiver Locations

21. Mare Island and SF9 Locations
Pier 22 & 23
SF9 Dredge Material Placement Area

22. Tracking of Napa River Steelhead through Project Area
Fish ID
Release Date
Upper Napa
1 & 2
Fagan Slough 3
North Unit 4
Central Unit 5
South Unit
6 & 7
Dutchman
Slough 8
Tennessee Bridge
9 & 10
Mare Island
22 & 23
San Pablo SF9
Golden Gate Array
Pt. Reyes Array
Small (<70g and 200mm)
NWSTH_003
4/8/2010
4/12
4/13
4/14
NWSTH_004
4/27-28 4/
4/29-30
5/26
NWSTH_012
4/20/2010
4/25
4/28
5/30
NWSTH_013
4/23
4/24
NWSTH_014
4/26
4/27
NWSTH_020
4/29
5/18
Large (>70g and 200mm)
NWSTH_001
4/11-12
4/18
4/15-16
4/15-18
NWSTH_002
4/13-14
5/5
NWSTH_006
4/12-13
NWSTH_009
4/23-24
5/8
NWSTH_011
NWSTH_015
4/24-25
NWSTH_016
4/22-23
5/2
NWSTH_017 4/
Add'tl Tagged Fish (LTMS) 10 2 9 20 na

23. Travel Days from Date of Release through Project Area
Fish ID
Release Date
Upper Napa
1 & 2
Fagan Slough 3
North Unit 4
Central Unit 5
South Unit
6 & 7
Dutchman Slough 8
Tennessee Bridge 9 & 10
Mare Island
22 & 23
San Pablo SF9
Golden Gate Array
Pt. Reyes Array
Small (<70g and 200mm)
NWSTH_003
4/8/2010 6
NWSTH_004 19 20 21 48
NWSTH_012
4/20/2010 40
NWSTH_013
NWSTH_014 7
NWSTH_020 9 28
Large (>70g and 200mm)
NWSTH_001 10
NWSTH_002 27
NWSTH_006
NWSTH_009 18
NWSTH_011
NWSTH_015
NWSTH_016 2 12
NWSTH_017

24. Emigration and Habitat Use
Rate of Emigration can affect utilization of tidal marsh habitats by fish, and is largely affected by:
Volume of Napa River outflow (storm events)
Tidal regime (large vs. small fluctuations)
Size at emigration
Maturity of tidal marsh habitat
To the extent possible, we will take into account the above factors in planning our tagging and release strategy during the next two years of the study.