The Entrainment and Screening of Returning and Postspawning Adult Salmonids at Irrigation Canals of the Umatilla River, Oregon

Abstract

Abstract Anadromous salmonids can be vulnerable to entrainment at diversion intake structures on streams, effectively trapping fish in irrigation canals and removing them from a population. Currently little is known about how the differences in timing and direction of movement among adult salmonids contribute to their risk of entrainment and how successful they are at escaping irrigation canals. Potential routes of escape include passing against water currents and through the headgate of an irrigation canal intake or by navigating through screen and bypass infrastructure primarily designed to return juvenile fish to a stream. In this study, passive integrated transponders (PIT tags) were used to track the movement of adult Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (n = 573), Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch (n = 39), and anadromous Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (steelhead, n = 853) as they entered areas of the Umatilla River basin (Oregon) with irrigation canals and as they attempted to escape irrigation canals after entrainment. Although adult steelhead and spring Chinook Salmon often encountered diversions at similar times, the vast majority of entrained adults were steelhead (94%). Between 2% and 8% of adult steelhead observed entering the area were entrained. The entrainment of steelhead was strongly associated with downstream movements and Umatilla River discharge below 40 m3/s. Many downstream-moving steelhead were postspawning fish (kelts). As a result, vulnerability of anadromous adults to entrainment differed by species due to the direction of their movements and how these movements coincide with canal operations and river flows. It is unlikely that the screened irrigation canals acted as an ecological sink; the majority of adult salmonids approached the screen and bypass infrastructure (≥88%) and later river detection confirmed that many had used that infrastructure to return to the river (≥47%). However, half of steelhead appeared to experience bypass delays at fish screens. Adult steelhead that approached the canal headgate after becoming trapped in the canal did not successfully return to the Umatilla River using this route. Unscreened irrigation canals elsewhere may disproportionally trap downstream-moving steelhead, like postspawning kelts, due to their propensity for entrainment and their difficulties escaping through the water intakes of irrigation canals. In streams with anadromous salmonids, fish screen and bypass infrastructure primarily designed to eliminate the permanent entrainment of juvenile fish can also prevent the removal of adult fish that may reproductively contribute to the population.