This work (juvenile electro fishing) is conducted in collaboration with WDFW and is used to determine abundance of resident and anadromous life history types in pre selected locations in the in the Naches River Yakima River basin.

Yakima / Klickitat Fisheries Project staff in collaboration with WDFW staff implement the elctro-fishing protocol to generate abundance estimates of O. mykiss in index monitoring sites following. Drift-boat electrofishing methods will be used to enumerate both adult and juvenile O. mykiss abundance in the mainstem Yakima River while O. mykiss adult and juvenile abundance will be estimated in tributary streams following backpack electrofishing methods (Temple and Pearsons 2007). 

Biological data is collected on all fish that are PIT tagged (Target: 100%) will include species identification/verification, additional biodata is uploaded to PTAGIS at regular intervals including length, weight. 
Additional genetic samples, and scale samples will be collected during sampling. 
- Scale samples will be collected on a subset of fish handled and will be sent to the WDFW scale lab in Olympia (Lance Campbell-WDFW scale and otolith lab in Olympia, WA). Note: since we will attempt to collect bio data on all fish sampled, the time frame for this milestone will include the entire contract period. 
A sub-sample of scales that are collected from O. mykiss juveniles at the time of tagging will be mounted on gummed scale cards and sent to the WDFW scale lab in Olympia for age verification. Scales will be sent the spring following the collection to allow several months during the winter season to "clean up" and remount scales on gummed cards to facilitate acetate impressions. Although scale cards will be sent to Olympia for ageing, the timeline the results will be returned will be dependent upon workload in the lab (but generally within a few months). 
- Genetic samples will be collected on all juvenile O. mykiss tagged (collections are made in 28rkms in Swauk Creek, 29rkms in the Middle Fork Teanaway River, 26 rkms in the West Fork Teanaway River, 26 rkms in Manastash Creek, and 32.31 rkms of the Mainstem Yakima River, and tributaries) and will be sent to the WDFW genetics lab at the end of the contract period. The genetic samples will be banked at the WDFW District 8 field office until sent to the WDFW molecular genetics lab in Olympia, WA for future assessment. Since PIT tagged smolts can migrate years after tagging, the samples will be run for individual fish that are identified as anadromous smolts if/when they are detected at downstream locations (e.g., mainstem dam; bird colony; trawl survey). Thus, the results of the genetic sampling will be completed in future contract periods for fish other than those that smolt in the same contract period in which they are tagged. Thus, the analysis and results will likely have milestone dates in subsequent years. Genetic samples will be banked under the direction of the WDFW genetics lab in Olympia. 
Future movement data coupled with instream abundance estimates and survival rate estimates will provide a means to estimate proportion of anadromous production in the upper Yakima.

The protocol provides the understanding O. mykiss life history diversity in the upper Yakima Basin, while concurrently providing resident and anadromous population status and trend data. The upper Yakima supports a large robust resident rainbow trout population that overlaps spatially and temporally with a relatively small sympatric anadromous population. The interaction between life history forms is a primary uncertainty documented in all major steelhead recovery documents. This protocol outlines one strategy that generates data to improve our understanding of how resident O. mykiss in the upper Yakima may influence recovery of the anadromous form. Abundance estimates in tributary and main stem areas are generated annually using mark recapture electrofishing techniques. Rearing juvenile fish captured under this protocol are PIT tagged, genetically sampled for inclusion in a parentage analysis, and scale sampled for cohort tracking/analysis. The proportion of juvenile migrants detected in subsequent years is used to partition abundance estimates into the abundance estimates for each form. PIT tag detection histories are used to identify areas that produce anadromous juveniles such that the relative production by stream can be evaluated and compared. This protocol collaborates with data collection activities conducted by the Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project 2010-030-00 (protocols 94 and 328).