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Elwha Master Datafile - Elwha dam removal neashore monitoring

Metadata Updated: October 19, 2024

Removal of two dams on the Elwha River, Washington will help restore natural sediment processes to the coastal environment near the river mouth. We are interested in the responses of fish associated with shallow subtidal and intertidal habitats because they function as spawning and rearing habitat for many fish species including the ecologically important forage fish and federally protected species of Pacific salmon. Since 2006, we have been collecting species composition and size distribution of the intertidal/subtidal fish community in the Eastern and Central Strait of Juan de Fuca. Potential reference site and treatment sites (where sediment changes are expected to occur) were sampled on a monthly basis from April to September using a beach seine. We found over 45 species of fish, mostly juvenile stages, using this portion of the Strait of Juan de Fuca representing two groups- fish occurring in the water column and those living on or near the bottom. The water column species tended to be very abundant and included both migrants (e.g., juvenile salmon) and residents (surf smelt). Although the same species tended to be present each year, they often exhibited dramatic between year variability in abundance. This suggests the importance of using multiple years of data to evaluate changes resulting from dam removal. Treatment and reference areas exhibited some significant differences and we found seasonality in the fish assemblage structure. Our results suggest that some promising bio-indicators of short and long term change in sediment processes are: 1) numbers of species, 2) species diversity, 3) composition and sizes of benthic species, 4) abundance by life history stage of surf smelt, and 5) presence of migratory species like juvenile salmon. We will continue this work following dam removal to track the changes due to dam removal. For this project, the data was stored in .xls and access files.

Access & Use Information

License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Date February 29, 2024
Metadata Created Date October 19, 2024
Metadata Updated Date October 19, 2024
Reference Date(s) (publication)
Frequency Of Update

Metadata Source

Harvested from NMFS NWFSC

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Date February 29, 2024
Metadata Created Date October 19, 2024
Metadata Updated Date October 19, 2024
Reference Date(s) (publication)
Responsible Party Northwest Fisheries Science Center (Point of Contact, Custodian)
Contact Email
Guid gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:30856
Access Constraints Cite As: Northwest Fisheries Science Center, [Date of Access]: Elwha Master Datafile - Elwha dam removal neashore monitoring [Data Date Range], https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/30856., Access Constraints: NA
Bbox East Long -122.2962
Bbox North Lat 47.6549
Bbox South Lat 47.6449
Bbox West Long -122.3062
Coupled Resource
Frequency Of Update
Harvest Object Id b8e552cf-4630-4863-8f1e-ed8ddcfd1176
Harvest Source Id ba43549f-8268-499d-bec8-91b164cb168f
Harvest Source Title NMFS NWFSC
Licence NOAA provides no warranty, nor accepts any liability occurring from any incomplete, incorrect, or misleading data, or from any incorrect, incomplete, or misleading use of the data. It is the responsibility of the user to determine whether or not the data is suitable for the intended purpose.
Lineage Data was entered into access/xls files from datasheets. These data were collected and processed in accordance with established protocols and best practices under the direction of the projects Principal Investigator. Contact the dataset Data Manager for full QA/QC methodology.
Metadata Language eng
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-122.3062, 47.6449], [-122.2962, 47.6449], [-122.2962, 47.6549], [-122.3062, 47.6549], [-122.3062, 47.6449]]]}
Progress completed
Spatial Data Service Type
Spatial Reference System
Spatial Harvester True
Temporal Extent Begin 2004-03-01

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