Stave River Water Use Plan - BC Hydro

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Stave River Water Use Plan Monitoring Terms of Reference June 13, 2005 Table 3-1: Estimated costs for the fish biomass monitor. Contingency is calculated on field labour, and covers safety planning, regulatory approvals (permits), field logistics, and unforeseen weather delays. Task Labour Daily Rate Units per year Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Yr 6 Yr 7 Yr 8 Yr 9 Yr 10 Project Management Project Manager $ 700 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 $ 7,000 Hydroacoustic Survey Sr. Biologist $ 700 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 $ 21,000 Technician 1 $ 500 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 $ 15,000 Fish survey Sr. Biologist $ 700 3 3 3 3 3 $ 10,500 Technician 1 $ 500 3 3 3 3 3 $ 7,500 Data Entry Technician 1 $ 500 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 $ 10,000 Data Analysis Sr. Biologist $ 700 5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 $ 31,500 Reporting Sr. Biologist $ 700 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 $ 14,000 Technician 1 $ 500 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 $ 20,000 Contingency 5% $ 790 $ 575 $ 790 $ 575 $ 790 $ 575 $ 790 $ 575 $ 790 $ 575 $ 6,825 Total Labour $ 16,590 $ 12,075 $ 16,590 $ 12,075 $ 16,590 $ 12,075 $ 16,590 $ 12,075 $ 16,590 $ 12,075 $ 143,325 Expenses Unit Cost Vehicle (per km) $ 0.45 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 $ 6,750 Boat Rental $ 350 6 3 6 3 6 3 6 3 6 3 $ 15,750 Hydro Accoustic rental $ 8,750 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 $ 87,500 Preport reproduction $ 100 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 $ 1,000 Total Expenses $ 11,625 $ 10,575 $ 11,625 $ 10,575 $ 11,625 $ 10,575 $ 11,625 $ 10,575 $ 11,625 $ 10,575 $ 111,000 Program Total $ 28,215 $ 22,650 $ 28,215 $ 22,650 $ 28,215 $ 22,650 $ 28,215 $ 22,650 $ 28,215 $ 22,650 $ 254,325 Inflation Adjustment 2% $ 28,778 $ 23,564 $ 29,941 $ 24,516 $ 31,151 $ 25,507 $ 32,409 $ 26,537 $ 33,719 $ 27,609 $ 283,731 BC Hydro Page 48 10-year Total
Stave River Water Use Plan Monitoring Terms of Reference June 13, 2005 4. Limited Block Load as Deterrent to Spawning 1.0 Program Rationale 1.1 Background Since 1980, an number of initiatives have been undertaken to improve the escapement of Stave River chum downstream of Ruskin Dam, which in recent years has experienced a 7-fold increase from it’s 1960-1984 average of just 44,000 individuals. These initiatives included a hatchery release program to supplement smolt outmigration, a Fraser River exploitation reduction program, and a habitat restoration program, which more than doubled the area of spawning habitat. In addition to these activities, a flow regime was implemented BC Hydro that restricted the fluctuation of downstream water levels during the chum spawning and incubation periods (Bailey 2002). The objective of the regime was to minimise the risk of adult and redd stranding. These restrictions however, were costly as it removed considerable flexibility in plant operations to match periods of peak power demand. During the WUP process, an operating strategy was proposed to take advantage of the initial test digging behaviour and subsequent egg laying patterns of chum salmon to minimise the risk of redd stranding, and in turn reintroduce some flexibility in power generation during the spawning and incubation periods. The underlying premise of the strategy was to maintain a relatively high base water level during the spawning and incubation periods such that most of the available spawning habitat was continuously usable and relatively free from the risk of future stranding during the incubation period. Hydraulic simulation modelling found that a constant release of 100 m 3 s -1 was sufficient for this purpose as it allowed most of the spawning habitat to be underwater by at least 10 cm and was sustainable during the spawning and incubation periods in most years. Above the 100 m 3 s -1 base release, all restrictions to generation were removed, allowing plant releases to vary as needed to meet power demands and manage the reservoirs. Because of the contoured banks of the river, the CC accepted the notion that such variable flows would not severely impact the spawning population. Stave River hydraulic modelling showed that the vast majority of the spawning habitat was located below the 100 m 3 s -1 watermark, and field observations indicated that the variability in velocities would be within tolerance limits of the population. In fact, the CC adopted the view that variability in flows above 100 m 3 s -1 would in the long run be beneficial to fish production, the rationale being that pulsed flows would deter chum salmon from spawning in habitats that are susceptible to dewatering during incubation (Failing 1999). It was believed that this deterrence effect was achieved by disrupting the spawning process during its initial test-digging phase. Because chum lay their eggs in ‘batches’ over a period of several days, even if egg-laying had started, only a fraction of the brood would be impacted. Studies that support this assertion that peaking flows (in this case flows between 100 m 3 s -1 and 325 m 3 s -1 for periods of 4 or more hours) deter spawning is limited. Only three publications were found, two of which were carried out on the Columbia River BC Hydro Page 49
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Stave River Water Use Plan - BC Hydro

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