Forgot your password?
New user?
Document Actions
Merced River Salmon Focus of Research by District and State
Merced Irrigation District is currently conducting research and monitoring projects on the lower Merced River to evaluate the Merced River Development Project's interrelationships with fishery resources. Particularly it focuses on the freshwater life history characteristics of Chinook salmon: upstream migration, spawning, egg incubation, juvenile rearing, and outmigration of juvenile fish from the river. The research will continue over a period of 10 years.
The initial effort entails the installation of two large fish traps in the river near Hopeton to capture young fish in order to examine, measure and count them. The traps are monitored daily from January through June, which encompasses nearly the entire salmon outmigration period. Young fish are released back into the river as soon as they are identified and counted. This information is invaluable to assess annual salmon production trends and to help evaluate the success of river management actions and its effects on the species. Research findings further assist water managers and natural resource agencies in determining the most important factors affecting the timing and outmigration of salmon from the river system.
fishery resources, Chinook salmon, salmon outmigration, spawning, egg incubation, juvenile rearing, outmigration, salmon production, river management, fish habitat, hatchery, water resource managers, natural resource agencies.
January 01, 2002 12:00 AM
W
Hopeton, Merced River Fish Hatchery
Merced River
Merced
Hopeton