This project will  use Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags and, through another MOA project (number 2008-907-00), Genetic Stock Identification (GSI) to assess Chinook, steelhead, and sockeye salmon adult migratory timing and survival through the Columbia River hydrosystem and into tributaries.  Adults will be sampled annually at the Bonneville Dam Adult Fish Facility for scales, length, and tag and biological information such as fin clips and fish condition will be collected in conjunction with existing Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission monitoring programs funded by the Pacific Salmon Commission and NOAA.  Adults sampled under these existing projects will be PIT tagged as part of 2008-518-00 and non-lethally sampled for genetic material as part of project 2008-907-00).  This project will fund two additional field technicians to assist in the field collection of this data as well as a data technician to enter and maintain databases as well as to assist in analysis of PIT tag data.  Upstream PIT tag detections will be used to track tagged and sampled fish through the hydrosystem and, in some cases, into the tributaries.  Data from these detections will be used to estimate upstream migration rates, rates of survival, run timing at Bonneville Dam, as well as escapement at upstream sites.  

Genetic material collected by this project will be analyzed by project # 2008-907-00, contract # 41224 to determine the stock of many of these fish.  For those stocks where sufficient fish can be identified, it will be possible to estimate stock specific upstream mortality and stray rates.