The resistance-board weir is in Shitike Creek and is designed to operate year-round to capture (or view) adult spring Chinook and steelhead who are traveling upstream to reproduce. Species can be counted while traveling up or downstream in a two-way trap box or on video. The weir captures all fish from the beginning of the steelhead upstream movement (mid December) until daily maximum temperature reaches 17 °C. Once daily maximum water temperatures reach 17 °C (by late May), the two-way trap box is opened for movement through the weir. This is typically when adult spring Chinook begin to move through the weir. Fish are then counted by video observation. An underwater video camera is then set up so fish can be counted as they move up and down stream. There are special underwater lights that allow us to count fish 24 hours every day. Video monitoring continues until steelhead upstream movement resumes.
Fisheries research is currently conducting total annual counts of adult movement for spring Chinook and steelhead as well as other fish species caught and/or observed by video for 2017. Of those fish counted fisheries research collects other data which create a more complete picture and aids us in understanding how many steelhead and spring Chinook we can expect to see in the coming years and if any measures need to be taken to help the species’.
Data is currently being collected for 2017 at the resistance board weir. Preliminary adult spring Chinook counts for 2017 look comparable to the last years sampled and the migration is not completed yet (Figure 1).
