This project seeks to expand our knowledge on the factors limiting production of Okanogan and Wenatchee
sockeye salmon stocks. A primary factor affecting the Okanogan stock is believed to be survival upstream of Wells
Dam. To quantify this mortality, this project has funded PIT and acoustic tagging of sockeye salmon at Wells Dam
with additional sockeye PIT tagged at Bonneville Dam as part of the Upstream Migration Timing Accords project).
The project has also funded PIT tag antenna arrays at Zosel, McIntyre, and Skaha dams as well as an instream arrays at Oliver, BC and Penticton, BC.

Acoustic tagging was conducted at Wells Dam since this project commenced through 2016 when it was dropped due to the expense of this tagging and the fact that recent PIT tag array installations, many funded by this project, provide much of the passage/survival data provided by acoustic tags.  One place where acoustic tagging was useful was to determine survival to the North Basin of Osoyoos Lake which is a cold water refuge for migrating sockeye salmon.  This is located immediately upstream of the Osoyoos Narrows in Osoyoos, BC.  These narrows could possibly be monitored with PIT tag antennas if we can determine where in the narrows the fish pass, thus we are again going to seek to use DIDSON to determine the feasibility of so monitoring this area.  Efforts in 2017 were adversely affected by high flows so we will try again in 2018.  

Finally, as this Accords project winds down, we seek to devote more resources to a multi-year analysis of data collected by this project

We do still plan to conduct PIT tagging at Wells Dam and possibly Priest Rapids Dam to augment the number of PIT tagged sockeye in the Okanagan Basin.  This will allow sockeye salmon to be
tracked through the Okanogan Basin, thereby allowing us to extend our migration survival estimates into the
Okanogan River. We also will be able to determine where in the Okanogan River-Osoyoos Lake mortality is
occurring, which may then allow for the development of different river management actions to reduce this mortality.
It is hoped that, depending on where mortality is occurred, better flow management techniques to optimize adult
survival can be developed. The PIT tag network we develop as part of this project may also improve data on
steelhead and Chinook use of the Canadian portion of the Okanogan Basin.

This project also seeks to standardize smolt abundance estimation methodologies between the two stocks by
conducting annual hydroacoustic surveys of Lake Wenatchee to compare with those being conducted in Osoyoos
Lake.  This project is also supporting PIT tagging of juvenile Okanagan sockeye in 2018 to assess assess downstream mortality of these fish through the Okanagan River and the Columbia Basin hydrosystem.  

Much of the work for this contract will be conducted by contractors and subrecipients:

Contractor/subrecipient      Task

Yakama Nation                  B, D, E, G, P
Okanagan Nation              B, F, G, H, I, J, K, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S
Biomark (or other qualified contractor):  G