Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Fish and Aquatic Species Publications

Looking for publications related to fish and aquatic species? Browse the list below or use the search box to narrow the results.

Filter Total Items: 322

Brown trout in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River—Evaluation of causal hypotheses and potential interventions

Over the period 2014–2016, the number of nonnative brown trout (Salmo trutta) captured during routine monitoring in the Lees Ferry reach of the Colorado River, downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, began increasing. Management agencies and stakeholders have questioned whether the increase in brown trout in the Lees Ferry reach represents a threat to the endangered humpback chub (Gila cypha), to the rainb
Authors
Michael C. Runge, Charles B. Yackulic, Lucas S. Bair, Theodore A. Kennedy, Richard A. Valdez, Craig Ellsworth, Jeffrey L. Kershner, R. Scott Rogers, Melissa A. Trammell, Kirk L. Young

Science partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe—Understanding the Elwha River Dam Removal Project

After nearly a century of producing power, two large hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River in Washington State were removed during 2011 to 2014 to restore the river ecosystem and recover imperiled salmon populations. Roughly two-thirds of the 21 million cubic meters of sediment—enough to fill nearly 2 million dump trucks—contained behind the dams was released downstream, which restored natural pro
Authors
Jeffrey J. Duda, Matt M. Beirne, Jonathan A. Warrick, Christopher S. Magirl

Dam Removal and Fish Passage Improvement Influence Fish Assemblages in the Penobscot River, Maine

Dams and their impoundments disrupt river habitat connectivity to the detriment of migratory fishes. Removal of dams improves riverine connectivity and lotic habitat, which benefits not only these fishes but also resident fluvial specialist species. Restoration efforts on the Penobscot River, Maine, are among the largest recently completed in the United States and include the removal of the two lo
Authors
Jonathan M. Watson, Stephen M. Coghlan, Joseph D. Zydlewski, Daniel B. Hayes, Ian A. Kiraly

The future of fish passage science, engineering, and practice

Much effort has been devoted to developing, constructing and refining fish passage facilities to enable target species to pass barriers on fluvial systems, and yet, fishway science, engineering and practice remain imperfect. In this review, 17 experts from different fish passage research fields (i.e., biology, ecology, physiology, ecohydraulics, engineering) and from different continents (i.e., No
Authors
Ana T. Silva, Martyn C. Lucas, Theodore R. Castro-Santos, Christos Katopodis, Lee J. Baumgartner, Jason D. Thiem, Kim Aarestrup, Paulo S. Pompeu, Gordon C. O'Brien, Douglas C. Braun, Nicholas J. Burnett, David Z. Zhu, Hans-Petter Fjeldstad, Torbjorn Forseth, Nallamuthu Rajarathnam, John G. Williams, Steven J. Cooke

Model structure of the stream salmonid simulator (S3)—A dynamic model for simulating growth, movement, and survival of juvenile salmonids

Fisheries and water managers often use population models to aid in understanding the effect of alternative water management or restoration actions on anadromous fish populations. We developed the Stream Salmonid Simulator (S3) to help resource managers evaluate the effect of management alternatives on juvenile salmonid populations. S3 is a deterministic stage-structured population model that track
Authors
Russell W. Perry, John M. Plumb, Edward C. Jones, Nicholas A. Som, Nicholas J. Hetrick, Thomas B. Hardy

N-mix for fish: estimating riverine salmonid habitat selection via N-mixture models

Models that formulate mathematical linkages between fish use and habitat characteristics are applied for many purposes. For riverine fish, these linkages are often cast as resource selection functions with variables including depth and velocity of water and distance to nearest cover. Ecologists are now recognizing the role that detection plays in observing organisms, and failure to account for imp
Authors
Nicholas A. Som, Russell W. Perry, Edward C. Jones, Kyle De Juilio, Paul Petros, William D. Pinnix, Derek L. Rupert

Distribution and seasonal differences in Pacific Lamprey and Lampetra spp eDNA across 18 Puget Sound watersheds

Lampreys have a worldwide distribution, are functionally important to ecological communities and serve significant roles in many cultures. In Pacific coast drainages of North America, lamprey populations have suffered large declines. However, lamprey population status and trends within many areas of this region are unknown and such information is needed for advancing conservation goals. We develop
Authors
Carl O. Ostberg, Dorothy M. Chase, Michael C. Hayes, Jeffrey J. Duda

A laboratory-calibrated model of coho salmon growth with utility for ecological analyses

We conducted a meta-analysis of laboratory- and hatchery-based growth data to estimate broadly applicable parameters of mass- and temperature-dependent growth of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch). Following studies of other salmonid species, we incorporated the Ratkowsky growth model into an allometric model and fit this model to growth observations from eight studies spanning ten differ
Authors
Christopher V. Manhard, Nicholas A. Som, Russell W. Perry, John M. Plumb

Relating river discharge and water temperature to the recruitment of age‐0 White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1836) in the Columbia River using over‐dispersed catch data

The goals were to (i) determine if river discharge and water temperature during various early life history stages were predictors of age‐0 White Sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus, recruitment, and (ii) provide an example of how over‐dispersed catch data, including data with many zero observations, can be used to better understand the effects of regulated rivers on the productivity of depressed stu
Authors
Timothy D. Counihan, Colin G. Chapman

An epidemiological model of virus transmission in salmonid fishes of the Columbia River Basin

We have developed a dynamic epidemiological model informed by records of viral presence and genotypes to evaluate potential transmission routes maintaining a viral pathogen in economically and culturally important anadromous fish populations. In the Columbia River Basin, infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) causes severe disease, predominantly in juvenile steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus my
Authors
Paige F. B. Ferguson, Rachel Breyta, Ilana L. Brito, Gael Kurath, Shannon L. LaDeau

Passage survival of juvenile steelhead, coho salmon, and Chinook salmon in Lake Scanewa and at Cowlitz Falls Dam, Cowlitz River, Washington, 2010–16

A multi-year evaluation was conducted during 2010–16 to evaluate passage survival of juvenile steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha), and coho salmon (O. kisutch) in Lake Scanewa, and at Cowlitz Falls Dam in the upper Cowlitz River Basin, Washington. Reservoir passage survival was evaluated in 2010, 2011, and 2016, and included the tagging and release of 1,127 juvenile sa
Authors
Theresa L. Liedtke, Tobias J. Kock, William Hurst

Migratory behavior and physiological development as potential determinants of life history diversity in fall Chinook Salmon in the Clearwater River

We studied the influence of behavior, water velocity, and physiological development on the downstream movement of subyearling fall‐run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in both free‐flowing and impounded reaches of the Clearwater and Snake rivers as potential mechanisms that might explain life history diversity in this stock. Movement rates and the percentage of radio‐tagged fish that moved
Authors
Kenneth F. Tiffan, Tobias J. Kock, William P. Connor, Marshall C. Richmond, William A. Perkins