Week of February 20, 2023

So far, we had cap­tured 363 fish via trap net and sein­ing. Based on size chart assess­ments, these include 63 wild fall-run sized, 1 late-full-run-sized, 9 win­ter-run-sized, and 5 spring-run-sized Chi­nook salmon. We found/experienced 0 mor­tal­i­ty of any non-fall-run wild Chi­nook salmon.   Mor­tal­i­ty was low.  About 3.3% (12/363) mor­tal­i­ty of all fish encoun­tered by this time with fyke and seine.  All of these were dead when they we encoun­tered, no observed mor­tal­i­ty dur­ing or short­ly after han­dling by the team as of this time. Of the mor­tal­i­ties not­ed, 5 were PIT-tagged hatch­ery fall-run salmon, 3 wild fall run salmon, 1 shad, 2 mos­qui­to fish and 1 sun­fish.

After hav­ing intro­duced the 4,500 Fall run (all PIT tagged) and 100 Late-Fall year­lings (all PIT and JSATS tagged) into the fields Feb 9 and 10, respec­tive­ly, empha­sis had moved to mon­i­tor­ing the net­work of 7 PIT read­ers at the rice box­es to col­lect data on fish move­ments with­in the field and out the field drain.  Relat­ed to this, the UC Davis team devel­oped an inter­est­ing Fish Move­ment Shiny App that allows for analy­sis of each fish detect­ed thus far to see where in the field they have trav­elled.  A lot of data to click on but it’s fun to take a look at a few of these to get a sense of how the fish are mov­ing.  The 4,500 PIT-tagged Fall run seemed to have real­ly set­tled into the field with less than 375 hav­ing exit­ed the fields by this time.

Pro­vid­ed tour of the Project for Bob Simms, an avid salmon fish­er­man and host of the KFBK’s Out­doors Show for 33 years.  Bob was very inter­est­ed in the project and ded­i­cat­ed a seg­ment of his Feb­ru­ary 25 show to dis­cussing the project in Hour 3.  His shows are avail­able on pod­cast.

Held a suc­cess­ful Project Field Day on Feb­ru­ary 23 with morn­ing and after­noon ses­sions.  Con­sid­er­ing the wind chill fac­tor, it may have been the cold­est day of the year for this event.  Great day to throw a par­ty!  We had good atten­dance by many of the key agen­cies, a few donors, and con­ser­va­tion groups.  The UC Davis team checked the fyke for them in the morn­ing and pulled a seine in the after­noon, find­ing salmon with both process­es.  So, the atten­dees got to see how the salmon are han­dled and inven­to­ried.  We also inspect­ed one of the spe­cial­ized rice box­es, with hole boards for fish pas­sage, that is wired with a PIT tag read­er sys­tem.  It was demon­strat­ed how the design allows detec­tion of when fish pass and/or just attempts to pass through these PIT-wired box­es.

Representatives from some of the key agencies (CDFW, CNRA, NOAA and NRCS) discussing the project during the Field Day.
Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from some of the key agen­cies (CDFW, CNRA, NOAA and NRCS) dis­cussing the project dur­ing the Field Day.
KFBK Outdoors Show Host, Bob Simms, watching the fyke net operations during his tour of the project.
KFBK Out­doors Show Host, Bob Simms, watch­ing the fyke net oper­a­tions dur­ing his tour of the project.
Lead staff from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Timmie Mandish and Jennifer Cavanaugh, discuss the project on Field Day. NRCS provides half of the funding for the project.
Lead staff from the Nat­ur­al Resources Con­ser­va­tion Ser­vice (NRCS), Tim­mie Man­dish and Jen­nifer Cavanaugh, dis­cuss the project on Field Day. NRCS pro­vides half of the fund­ing for the project.
UC Davis Researcher Alexan­dra Wampler explains to KFBK’s Bob Simms the process for han­dling PIT-tagged salmon found in the fyke net.
Close-up photo of a jar of zooplankton and other great fish foods taken from the project field.
Close-up pho­to of a jar of zoo­plank­ton and oth­er great fish foods tak­en from the project field.
On Field Day, California Ricelands Salmon Project Manager, Paul Buttner, highlights all of the great funding partners that make the project possible.
On Field Day, Cal­i­for­nia Rice­lands Salmon Project Man­ag­er, Paul But­tner, high­lights all of the great fund­ing part­ners that make the project pos­si­ble.
UC Davis Researcher Alexan­dra Wampler explains to KFBK’s Bob Simms the process for han­dling wild salmon found in the fyke net.
Carlos Suarez, NRCS State Conservationist for California, visiting the UC Davis Team in the field. NRCS provides half of the funding for the project.
Car­los Suarez, NRCS State Con­ser­va­tion­ist for Cal­i­for­nia, vis­it­ing the UC Davis Team in the field. NRCS pro­vides half of the fund­ing for the project.
UC Davis Lead Field Scientist Derrick Alcott demonstrating seining operations during Field Day.
UC Davis Lead Field Sci­en­tist Der­rick Alcott demon­strat­ing sein­ing oper­a­tions dur­ing Field Day.
UC Davis Researcher Alexan­dra Wampler explains the fyke net oper­a­tions in detail to a large group on Field Day.
Large group of agency staff and other visitors observe the fyke net operations on Field Day.
Large group of agency staff and oth­er vis­i­tors observe the fyke net oper­a­tions on Field Day.
KFBK Outdoors Show Host, Bob Simms, visits with Jacob Montgomery of California Trout, Grower Steve Neader and Derrick Alcott (UCD) during a tour.
KFBK Out­doors Show Host, Bob Simms, vis­its with Jacob Mont­gomery of Cal­i­for­nia Trout, Grow­er Steve Nead­er and Der­rick Alcott (UCD) dur­ing a tour.
Two key agency leads for this project, Bjarni Serup from California Dept of Fish and Wildlife and Kimberly Clements with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, discussing the project on Field Day.
Two key agency leads for this project, Bjarni Serup from Cal­i­for­nia Dept of Fish and Wildlife and Kim­ber­ly Clements with NOAA’s Nation­al Marine Fish­eries Ser­vice, dis­cussing the project on Field Day.
Peter Aron­son (UC Davis) explain­ing fyke net oper­a­tions to Car­los Suarez, NRCS State Con­ser­va­tion­ist for Cal­i­for­nia.
Carlos Suarez, NRCS State Conservationist for California, visits with Steve Neader, the innovative rice grower who is working daily to implement the project.
Car­los Suarez, NRCS State Con­ser­va­tion­ist for Cal­i­for­nia, vis­its with Steve Nead­er, the inno­v­a­tive rice grow­er who is work­ing dai­ly to imple­ment the project.

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