Fish Predation on a Landscape Scale

OneNOAA Science Seminar Series

Title: Fish Predation on a Landscape Scale 

Speaker: Cyril J. Michel, University of California – Santa Cruz / NOAA-NMFS
Co-Authors: 
Mark J. Henderson – USGS / Humboldt State University, Arcata
Christopher M. Loomis – Humboldt State University, Arcata
Joseph M. Smith – NOAA-NMFS-NWFSC, Seattle
Nicholas J. Demetras – NOAA-NMFS, Santa Cruz 
Ilysa S. Iglesias – NOAA-NMFS, Santa Cruz 
Brendan M. Lehman – NOAA-NMFS, Santa Cruz
David D. Huff – NOAA-NMFS NWFSC, Newport

Sponsor: NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS) Science Seminar Series; coordinator is Tracy.Gill@noaa.gov. After the webinar, we will likely email the recording and PDF of slides to registrants if/when available.

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Abstract: California’s Central Valley salmon populations are in decline, and it is believed that one of the major contributors to these declines is low survival during residence in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The mechanism of their mortality is unclear, but it is believed that a significant contributor is predation by the large populations of predators present there. However, it is currently not clear what proportion of juvenile salmonid mortality can be directly attributed to fish predation, largely because empirical data on predation has only been collected at limited spatial scales. In 2017, we quantified predation mortality rates, predator abundance, and relevant environmental covariates in 21 randomly selected study sites in the Delta, using a randomized selection protocol. Predation mortality rates were quantified using Predation Event Recorders (standardized predation monitoring devices), and predator densities were quantified using Dual-Identification Sonar cameras. This site selection protocol allowed for the inference of relationships between the environment and predation across a broader spatial scale than previous studies. Using these statistical relationships, we then developed the capability to produce high-resolution spatially and temporally-explicit predation risk estimates. We then put these predation risk estimates in the context of their impacts on migrating juvenile salmon, allowing us to assess the potential success of different potential survival-enhancing management actions.  

Bio(s): Cyril has spent his career to date passionately devoted to restoring salmon stocks in California's Central Valley. This work has led him through a natural progression, starting with his Master's Thesis work on investigating the outmigration survival dynamics of juvenile late-fall Chinook salmon, to present day, which consists of being the team leader for the salmon acoustic telemetry and salmon predation programs at University of California Santa Cruz, in affiliation with the National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science Center. These two programs are both currently maturing and moving from the monitoring phase, in other words, assessing the spatial and temporal dynamics as well as environmental drivers of juvenile salmon survival and predation risk, to the experimental phase, with different studies testing ways to manipulate juvenile salmon survival and predation risk on a landscape scale. When Cyril isn't working tirelessly to restore salmon populations, he's secretly out (trying to) catch them on his boat and keep them for dinner. 

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(Cyril J. Michel, University of California, Santa Cruz/NOAA-NMFS; Mark J. Henderson – USGS/Humboldt State University; Christopher M. Loomis – Humboldt State University; Joseph M. Smith, NOAA-NMFS-NWFSC, Seattle; Nicholas J. Demetras, NOAA-NMFS, Santa Cruz; Ilysa S. Iglesias, NOAA-NMFS, Santa Cruz; Brendan M. Lehman, NOAA-NMFS, Santa Cruz, and David D. Huff, NOAA-NMFS NWFSC, Newport)