Co-Author: Devan Reid, Sr. Fisheries Technician
The Smolt Monitoring Project crews in Lewiston spent most of their first fish-trapping week clearing debris out of the Snake River fish trap to allow migrating salmon and Steelhead Trout smolts to enter the livewell. While they waited for fishes to arrive, they also collected water condition data such as temperature and flow. This week, two Kokanee Salmon (one is pictured in the video), two wild Steelhead Trout smolts, and a non-migratory Banded Killifish were trapped and sampled. All of them were counted, recorded, and released to resume their downstream migration to the Pacific Ocean.
Fish and Game and the Fish Passage Center cooperatively operate this fish trap as a key component of the Smolt Monitoring Program and the Comparative Survival Study. More information about these important wild salmon and steelhead trout projects is available at https://www.fpc.org/fpc_homepage.php
Also, see this previous article about this project: https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2021/02/connecting-wild-salmon-and-steelhea…
Music: Parasail by Silent Partner (No Copyright Music)