C05__Attachment_5_2024_FAR_Call_8_notes_2024_09_30_draft.pdf

2024 Flow Augmentation Releases Technical Meeting #8

Sept 30, 2024: Draft Notes

Participating on call:

1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Bill Pinnix

2. Hoopa Valley Tribe: Karl Seitz

3. CDFW: Morgan Knechtle, Ken Lindke

4. Yurok Tribe: Oshun O’Rourke, Shane Quinn

5. Karuk Tribe: Not Present

6. NMFS: Seth Naman

7. Reclamation: Paul Zedonis, Mike Dixon, Peggy Manza, Tom Patton, Eric Reiland, Emily Van

Seeters, Eric Peterson

Opening remarks by attendees:

Paul provided a presentation on FAR implementation specifics (per the 2017 ROD) and current environmental conditions (hydrology, water temperatures, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, weather, etc.).

The presentation was attached to the meeting calendar invite.

Comments/Questions:

Paul asked for an update regarding the additional time for comments for Meeting 6. Karl said that for

Meeting 6 and 7 HVTFD have no comments on the notes.

During Paul’s presentation, Eric Reiland confirmed they will be holding at a 1000 cfs release.

Agency/Tribal Reports:

Yurok Tribe – o Oshun reported that they caught 15 fish, several from Weitchpec and others around

Blue Creek. 4 fish had mild columnaris, 3 fish had low numbers of ich on their gills. This is the last week they will be doing ich sampling, next week they will start upper Klamath carcass and redd surveys. Nothing they have seen thus far has them concerned.

o Paul asked if the 4 fish with columnaris were the same fish that had ich. Oshun said no, the fish that had columnaris were not the same that had ich.

o Oshun said the crew went out to blue creek and noticed the turbidity is higher than last week which is expected based on the bump around Iron Gate this past weekend.

o Paul asked how the fishery is on the reservation. Oshan said the tribal fishery is closed and no gill netting is allowed. Hook and line fishing is allowed but there is not a lot of people on the river at the moment o Paul asked if fish are moving though okay. Oshan said they believe so, there has been no update from the Karuk Tribe. Fish are not caught in a thermal refugia and they are running in day time because temperatures are fairly low. Fish seem to be moving freely.

Shane added that the net harvest crew has been doing some elder fishing and they have been getting 10-15 fish per effort, half of these fish have shown signs of external columnaris. Those fish are being caught further up the river and not seeing a lot of new fish coming in.

o Paul wondering if this is related to the increase in turbidity.

o Karl asked if these 50% of fish that have external columnaris also have open wounds and Shane said yes.

o Seth stated that a few years ago in the North Fork of the Trinity because of the fire scar they had bad turbidity and at that time it seemed that there was a columnaris issue that year as well.

CDFW –

o Morgan reported on the Trinity side, efforts at TRH are ongoing, spring-run at TRH have been low, the hatchery has 2 more spawn days until the break. They are well below average for this time of year. They have inspected 59 gill arches for disease, they saw very low numbers of ich which is lower than expected for this time of year. They have been seeing a fair number of fish with columnaris and early life stage of cocopods which is new and different. The copepods do not appear to be causing mortalities. At Junction

City Weir, trapping numbers have been low but starting to pick up. This morning, they have started to see fall-run move towards Willow Creek. Numbers have improved at the weir, but they are observing external lesions on the chinook. They suspect they could possibly be lamprey wounds. They are roundish in size and about the size of a dime. On the Klamath side, they have observed less than 5 fish at Scott River and Bogus Creek and seen fish at Shasta River. The number observed is normal except for Shasta River, which usually sees 30-40% of the run in September. So far, they have only seen 40 fish which is concerning. The visibility has been low, but the DO is within fish tolerance. The heat wave is expected to continue for the next couple of days but hopefully temperatures will start to cool down afterwards.

o Paul asked regarding the lamprey wound if is it possible that the upriver lamprey found prey downriver. Morgan said did not want to speculate. It was rare to see adult chinook with lamprey wounds or attached historically, which was a contrast between the Trinity and Klamath.

o Paul asked if there has been any disease information from the weirs. Morgan said they do not have a recent scoring for the Junction City Weir, and to his knowledge it has been less systematic at Willow Creek Weir. Paul asked if a final report has come out for that, and Morgan said TRH will do their best to provide a summary report.

o Ken said he didn’t have much to add. Despite the returns to the hatchery and the redd counts, the counts show about mean or median so that’s a good sign. They also saw a handful of carcasses that appeared healthy.

Hoopa Valley Tribe – o Karl reported catch through their individual tribal fishery has been low because nets are still fouling from the increase in algae. Catch at the Hoopa weir has been good but there has been a downtick last week. They first started with 140 fish catch per day and now it’s down to 80 fish per day for all species, in which the tribe is harvesting about half.

During ich sampling, they are seeing ich on every sample but trophont counts are low, with the maximum seen was 8 trophonts per gill arch. All fish have ich, but it does not appear serious. Columnaris has been observed on the gills but appears low and in only about 20% of the fish. The tribe is taking 5 samples per day and will continue to do so while weir is fishing and will soon switch over to Coho. HVTFD staff observed sores on the fish at the weir. Karl has sent out photos to the group of these sores. The sores present as flesh eaten away. They are possible lamprey wounds but appear larger and more prevalent, 50% of the fish coming through have some sort of lesions. The lesions present as small boils, scrapes, scratches, and some wounds appear as if the meat has been eaten away.

o Paul asked if CDFW is observing this as well and if pathology is doing anything regarding this. Morgan said he originally reached out to the fish health team in

Sacramento to perform a general assessment. He didn’t have this information at that time and did not relay this state of urgency. His original request was more of a general inquiry to establish baseline for disease. He said it would be good to reach out again. Fish heath originally said they were not going to come out without a heightened need. Morgan also got a request from Mary Claire to contact fish health as well and is seeing the same thing as the HVTFD so he will reach out to them.

o Paul asked about if they are observing this on the Klamath and to see if they are observing this within the Karuk harvest. No one was able to provide an answer.

o Seth said the wounds don’t appear to be lamprey scars. Lamprey marks are more circular and obvious.

USFWS –

o Bill reported 210 redds have been observed on the upper Trinity River, which is about median for this time of year. It is still too soon to assess the count overall for this year, and the final number will part of the report. 19 female carcasses in upper section have been seen, with only 1 of those being unspawned. This equates to 5%, but is fairly low to typical for this time of year. They are not seeing an overwhelming number of prespawn mortality above the North Fork. They will start surveys for the Klamath next week. So far, nothing is standing out as strange except for the wounds Karl shared.

Some of the observed wounds are large and lamprey wounds are typically smaller and more circular.

o Paul asked if they observed the same wounds on the carcasses they saw. Bill said the crew did not report anything suspicious regarding the carcasses.

Agency Perspective on the Need for FAR:

Paul stated that since the coffer dams will be out in a couple of days, he is not feeling there is a strong need for follow up meeting or FAR action since we are outside the action window. However, if there is something unique that warrants another meeting, Reclamation is open to meeting again and would like feedback from the team.

CDFW – Morgan said CDFW is happy to continue to participate as necessary but suggest moving the wounds conversations to KFAT. He is emailing pathology currently to see when they are available. They do not need to meet next week and if something occurs the team can reconvene.

HVT – Karl said they do not need another meeting on the books. If something occurs to where we believe a meeting is needed, they can message the group. We are past the action period and can continue wound discussions in KFAT. Karl also inquired about the Klamath Synthesis. The Tribes put out a joint proposal to perform the work and if Reclamation has any questions to be in touch.

USFWS – Bill stated that they agree with the rest of the team that we do not need another meeting for

FARs given we are outside the action window. He does think the KFAT meetings are an appropriate venue to continue to discuss the wounds.

NMFS – Seth had a similar consensus to others. If KFAT is a better forum to discuss the wounds than that’s good. He is sure Karl and others will keep awareness going, especially if lesions are getting worse.

Seth said the wounds could possibly be attributed to pinnipeds, and then the fish are getting away. The pinnipeds could not be as efficient due to their poor eyesight. Karl responded that it appears that the skin is gone from the surface of the fish, but there has been no indentation on the meat. Paul said if there is a reduced visibility it could attribute to the possible predation attempts to not be observed by the salmon. Paul also commented that we should try to collect samples to see what’s going on and that he will reach out to Ron Stone from USFWS CA Fish Health Center.

YTFP – Shane said they don’t know if there is a need for another meeting. The wound pictures struck him, and this discussion would be better within the KFAT meetings. The next KFAT meeting is on

Wednesday and are weekly.

Paul said then we will conclude FARs meetings for this year. No action taken was taken for 2024. Stay tuned on contractor updated for the FARS Synthesis.