Gates Creek Salmonid Habitat and Population Assessments
This project has three distinct parts, including enumeration of juvenile Coho and Sockeye Salmon, Bull Trout and Rainbow Trout, as well as development of in-stream and riparian habitat restoration prescriptions. The first portion of the study will focus on juvenile Sockeye enumeration from both Gates Creek and spawning channel, to assess landslide effects on egg-to-fry survival. The second part of the study will entail a summer electrofishing series in Gates Creek to provide estimates of rearing Coho, Bull Trout and Rainbow Trout abundance. Abundance estimates will provide baselines against which future restoration will be evaluated. And thirdly, restoration prescriptions will be developed for both in-stream and riparian habitats through separate habitat surveys.
This project will fill knowledge gaps regarding Gates Creek Coho Salmon, and Bull Trout and Rainbow Trout populations. This study will also provide additional information regarding habitat use by rearing salmon and trout in Gates Creek. This project will provide restoration options for Coho and Bull Trout habitat in the Gates Creek watershed upon which future projects may be based.
Final Report: Executive Summary
This report summarizes the monitoring activities of the Gates Creek Salmonid Habitat and Population Assessment. The project was funded by the Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program. The Gates Creek Salmonid Habitat and Population Assessment primarily addresses the “research and information acquisition” action in the Bridge Seton Salmonid Action Plan by providing baseline population estimates for rearing salmonids in the Gates Creek watershed.
This report is broken into two chapters to accommodate the difference in methodologies used between the two field components of the project.
The “Gates Creek Juvenile Sockeye Salmon Migration and Survival” is the first chapter and discusses the final year of data collection for juvenile Sockeye Salmon that commenced in the spring of 2012. The chapter summarizes the abundance and survival estimates for Sockeye Salmon fry leaving Gates Creek and the Gates Creek spawning channel over the past five years with emphasis on the data collected in the spring of 2016.
The second chapter, the “Gates Creek Juvenile Salmonid Assessment” presents the results of the first year of a proposed four-year open site electrofishing mark-recapture survey for juvenile Coho Salmon, Bull Trout and Rainbow Trout. Fish density for age 0+ Rainbow Trout and catch statistics for Coho Salmon and Bull Trout juveniles are provided in this chapter.
Click the provincial database link below to read the full final report for this project.