Assessing migrating fish in the Columbia River  

• Managing fisheries in the Columbia River system requires ongoing data to assist resource managers to evaluate the status of fish stocks, particularly threatened and endangered species.
• The EAS team works with Normandeau Associates and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to identify and count adult fish at mainstem dams with fish passage facilities on the Columbia and Snake rivers.
• We collect data on adult salmon, steelhead, shad, lamprey, and other migrating and resident species as they pass through the dam’s counting stations.
• Our staff takes fish counts by looking directly into fish ladders (4:00 a.m. to 8 p.m.). At night (8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.) and during winter months, fish counters use video to record fish passage.
• EAS’s fish passage work assists federal, state, and tribal governments protect and restore targeted species.