ISTM Fish Monitoring Component

The primary purpose of the ISTM project is to improve integration of existing and new efforts that are intended to address status and trend monitoring needs. As a demonstration effort, it focuses on processes and tools for the development and management of integrated regional strategic action plans or roadmaps for monitoring the status and trends of aquatic habitat, watershed health, and salmon populations (including steelhead). The Lower Columbia River (LCR) area has been chosen for this demonstration project because it is representative of the challenges faced when integrating monitoring across multiple Evolutionary Significant Units (ESU) and Distinct Populations Segments (DPS), between the states of Oregon and Washington, including the operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) and Bonneville Dam, and federal and tribal management through U.S. v. Oregon and the Pacific Salmon Treaty. Although numerous entities are involved in monitoring in the LCR, the existing monitoring efforts are not well coordinated, and often lack the spatial coverage, certainty, or species coverage necessary to answer questions related to status and trends of fish populations across the ESU/DPS.

The specific goal of the Fish Monitoring component of the ISTM project is to develop a coordinated Viable Salmonid Population (VSP) monitoring program that addresses key regional (priority) monitoring questions and develops study designs of sufficient quality and quantity to determine status and trend of LCR salmon and steelhead. This will provide entities tasked with monitoring salmon and steelhead populations in the Pacific Northwest with a roadmap of the steps needed to develop an integrated, scientifically sound monitoring program that meets the needs of regional decision-makers and managers. We will apply this approach to develop a specific monitoring plan for ESA listed salmon and steelhead populations in the LCR, concentrating on the monitoring of VSP parameters. VSP monitoring utilizes four primary metrics to assess salmon status: abundance, spatial structure, diversity, and productivity. The first three metrics are independent metrics to categorize the abundance of salmon, their distribution, and genetic and life history diversity. The final metric, productivity, is a time series or density dependent cohort analysis based on the abundance and diversity metrics.

We anticipate this project will ultimately lead to a transparent, scientifically credible, and cost-effective fish monitoring program in the LCR, which can be used as a model for the remainder of the Columbia Basin. The following five objectives will be accomplished to meet these goals:
1. Identify and prioritize management decisions, questions, and objectives.
2. Evaluate the extent to which existing programs align with these management decisions, questions, and objectives.
3. Identify the most appropriate monitoring design(s) to inform priority management decisions, questions, and objectives.
4. Use trade-off analysis to develop specific recommendations for monitoring based on outcomes of objectives 1-3.
5. Recommend implementation and reporting mechanisms.