Estuarine recovery of PIT-tagged juvenile salmonids from the Lower Granite Dam transportation study, 1998

In 1998, National Marine Fisheries Service researchers continued evaluation of a specialized trawl containing a passive integrated transponder tag (PIT tag) detector for estuarine interception of PIT-tagged juvenile salmonids. The study, which began in 1995, was conducted in the Columbia River estuary offJones Beach (RKm 75). Principal fish targeted for the research were the nearly 115,000 PIT-tagged juvenile spring/summer chinook salmon released at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River (RKm 695) or transported and released in the Columbia River 9 km downstream from Bonneville Dam (RKm 234). These fish were released from April through mid-June to compare survival between inriver-migrating and barge-transported fish. Contract no. E8960100