Action effectiveness studies look at “cause and effect” relationships between management actions and improvements to fish survival and/or environmental conditions. In other words, these studies help evaluate whether actions for fish are achieving their biological objectives.
Fish passage and survival at the dams is a long-standing example of action effectiveness monitoring. The action agencies and NOAA Fisheries use findings on juvenile survival and fish passage efficiency through different passage routes at the dams to decide where and how to make structural and operational changes to improve survival.
Effects of restoration actions on improving the characteristics of tributary streams can be easily demonstrated through long-term monitoring of key attributes that provide trend data.
Adult fish swimming by a viewing window at a dam. Photo by Tony Grover, Northwest Power and Conservation Council.
The effect of habitat improvements on fish survival is a more difficult to isolate, since there are many factors that affect fish health, and it is difficult to isolate the contribution of improved tributary habitat.
Intensively monitored watersheds help provide a laboratory where data on can be collected on a single ecosystem – including water temperatures and water quality, soils, fish status, vegetation, etc. – over time. This more extensive data allows researchers to develop a comprehensive understanding of the factors controlling salmon health and productivity and how these factors are influenced by various restoration actions.
Other action effectiveness monitoring includes studies of avian, pikeminnow and sea lion predation on juvenile and adult salmon and monitoring and evaluation of safety-net hatchery programs.