Lake Ozette Sockeye Salmon
Lake Ozette sockeye are one of six west coast sockeye salmon ESUs. In 1999, they were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing was primarily attributed to concerns over abundance and effects of small population genetic and demographic variability. In order to determine the actions required to fully recover Lake Ozette sockeye the factors limiting their survival must be thoroughly understood.
The Lake Ozette Sockeye Limiting Factors Analysis and the Lake Ozette Sockeye Recovery Plan describe,in detail the Lake Ozette watershed ecosystem and the factors affecting the survival of sockeye salmon, as well as a comprehension set of recovery actions. These documents are available at the NOAA-NMFS website (see link below).
Mike Haggerty Consulting
Here is a link to the NOAA Lake Ozette Page- NOAA LAKE OZETTE SOCKEYE PAGE
Also, a new website is currently being developed and it will be exclusively dedicated to everything that is Lake Ozette Sockeye-
Here is a link to the website: http://www.ozettesockeye.com/home.html
I worked with the Makah Tribe and NOAA to develop methods using DIDSON (imaging sonar) technology to enumerate beach spawning sockeye salmon along the shorelines of Lake Ozette. During the 2012/2013 spawning season we completed three spawning ground surveys using imaging sonar (ARIS 1800).
Included below are reports summarizing the 2011/12 and 2012/2013 spawning seasons and our efforts to use imaging sonar to enumerate spawning sockeye along the shorelines of Lake Ozette.
2012 Report
2011 Report
Below are two videos from our December 12, 2012 ARIS survey for beach spawning Lake Ozette sockeye salmon. The first video comes from the core spawning area at Olsen's Beach. These images were captured with an ARIS 1800 unit mounted to a boat, the boat is slowly drifting to the north with the unit pointed to the east. The second video was made at Allen's Beach using the ARIS 1800 pointed to the west (up the beach), with the boat moving approximately 1 mile per hour to the south. In this video, you can see an excellent example of the type of images collected using our slow pass technique. The images include sockeye salmon on their spawning grounds. Note the changes in substrate texture, from sand with ripples to fine gravel. You can also see what appears to be at least one sockeye salmon sitting directly above a redd.