2017 Out-migrant Monitoring Trapping Support on the Upper Middle Klamath River

The Karuk Tribal Fisheries Program (KTFP) assisted the US Fish and Wildlife with the installation and operations of out migrant fish traps in the Upper Middle Klamath River. KTFP assisted with installation of all three trapping sites, but was ultimately responsible for only one work site located near Kinsman Creek. The Kinsman Creek work site is located approximately 5 mile upstream of the confluence with the Scott River and is the lowest trapping site. KTFP began operations at the Kinsman Creek site in early March and continued trapping operations until mid May 2018. The primary objective of this project and use of PCSRF funding is to determine annual relative salmonid fry abundance and migration timing. The Kinsman site provided and opportunity for fish disease researchers to handle and collect live fish, but this effort was part of a larger basin wide fish disease research project and was not funded by PCSRF. KTFP assisted the US Fish and Wildlife Service with trap removal in September 2018.

This project benefits Klamath River salmonid by providing information in a long term data set to water managers, researchers and restoration efforts by collecting up to date data on migration timing, presence, fork length, and health of juvenile outmigrant salmonid as well as other fish in the Klamath River. More specifically the project assists with determining the annual fry abundance and health of the upper Klamath River juvenile Chinook and Coho populations. Federal water managers use this data to determine flow needs for juvenile salmonids out migration from the Klamath River. The trapping sites are key locations for fish sampling and provide opportunity for researchers to handle live fish or collect live fish. Clinical signs of fish disease are documented as part of the normal fish handling and data collection. The fish disease work is a larger non PCSRF funded research project where a sub set of samples are collected and examined in a lab to determine the prevalence of infection (POI) from the pathogen C-Shasta. The combination of POI and weekly abundance estimates are key information for adaptive management including flow releases from Iron Gate Dam. The data also provide long term monitoring of the Klamath River Chinook population which is a major contribution to Tribal and commercial fishing industry.