Salmonid Field Protocols Handbook: Techniques for Assessing Status and Trends in Salmon and Trout

Methods

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781888569926.ch5

This handbook was inspired by a vision to provide standard methods for the capture and counting of salmonids and to serve as the foundation for consistent regional and global data sets describing salmon populations.

The handbook aims to establish standard methods for four sampling objectives: (1) abundance, (2) distribution, (3) population trends, and (4) fish/habitat relationships. The initial step for this resource entailed a literature review of published and unpublished protocols for all commonly used sampling methods in freshwater habitats. The literature search focused on state and federal agencies, universities, and tribes within the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in North America. Experts were identified and asked to provide available protocols for fish capture and counting. At universities, we approached faculty and research staff directly and conducted searches of university library resources.

We searched existing databases with protocols such as those maintained in British Columbia and the Klamath Resource Information System. Reference sections from available protocols were also used to track down original documents. After assembling more than 375 documents, we used a specific set of criteria to conduct a coarse screening on the content and value of each document. The screening process, based on work by Oakley et al. (2003), used the checklist below to determine whether protocols met a minimum standard for further consideration.