Salish Sea Marine Survival Project researchers conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment with Green River and Nisqually River steelhead smolts. Steelhead were tagged with acoustic telemetry transmitters and either released into their natal river or transported and released into the other river. Smolts released into the Green River had higher survival through Puget Sound regardless of their population of origin. Size and translocation did not influence survival, and estuary residence time and behavior was similar for both rivers. These results suggest that steelhead mortality in the Salish Sea is driven more by processes in the inland marine environment than by intrinsic effects of population or freshwater-rearing. Read more: Moore and Berejikian (2017) Population, habitat, and marine location effects on early marine survival and behavior of Puget Sound steelhead smolts. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.1834
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