(Note: All transceivers and antennas are provided by Digital Angel Corp. Reference contract number 00002760, Release 00011)

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 2000 Biological Opinion requires that Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag detectors be installed at appropriate Federal Columbia River Power System projects prior to the expected return of any adult salmon from the 2001 juvenile out-migration (Section 10.5.1.6).
During the winter of 2001 / 2002, PSMFC and its contractors installed a new PIT interrogation system at Bonneville. This system was an ‘orifice-based' design. This means that the fish passage route that was configured with PIT tag detectors required that fish pass through the underwater orifice's of the fish ladders weirs. However, fish can ascend the ladder by way of the ladder's weir over-fall path and avoid detection in the underwater orifices.
Subsequent to the installation in 2001 / 2002, systems were eventually developed that can detect fish in spaces much larger than the underwater orifices. The work described here is to install a PIT tag detector system in the ‘vertical slot' portion of the fish ladder at BWSL. This system will be able to detect fish that ascend both the Cascades Island fish ladder and the Washington Shore fish ladder.
This work statement provides for additional labor and equipment for the final installation of the adult PIT tag interrogation systems at the Bradford Island Fish Ladder at Bonneville Dam.
Since 1990, the PTAGIS project has performed system installations and operations and maintenance of PIT tag interrogation systems in the Columbia River Basin as part of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's (NPCC) Fish and Wildlife Program (FWP). PTAGIS project staff are uniquely qualified to provide installation resources for adult PIT tag interrogation systems and integrate the raw data into the PTAGIS data system.