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<br />5-4 <br /> <br />5.2 Weekly Drift Densities <br />One of the main objectives of this study was to assess the species <br />composition and relative density of drifting larval target fishes at the <br />headgates of the proposed JH-1 project. Although no T&E fishes were <br />captured, the results of the investigation are ,nevertheless, presented. <br />Using the techniques described in the METHODS section of this document, <br />the drifting density of each species captured in each drift net sample was <br />estimated and is presented in Table B-2 of Appendix B. Maximum drift <br />density for a single species in a given drift net sample was 2.480 fish/1000 <br />cubic feet of water. Mean weekly densities and standard deviations of these <br />values for the 9-week sample period are presented in Table B-6. <br />Variations in the weekly mean drift densities appear to be related to <br />river discharge and water temperature (Figure 3). Few fish were found <br />drifting before and at the initiation of the drift net sampling on July 13, <br />1984, based on preliminary sampling and measurements of water temperature. <br />Drifting fish were first detected the second week of July when water <br />temperatures first reached 16.0 C. <br />The trends in densities of drifting fishes followed closely trends in <br />water temperature. Mean weekly densities increased from 0.1633 fishes/IOOO <br />cubic feet of water in the first week of sampling to a peak of 2.3385 fishes <br />in the third week as river temperatures rose from 16.5 to 20.5 C and <br />discharge decreased from about 18,000 to 10,000 cfs (Figure 3). The <br />continued warming and decreased discharge of the river in the fourth week of <br />sampling, however, did not result in increased drift densities; mean weekly <br />drift density at that time dropped to only 0.3050 fishes as the river <br />temperature peaked between 20.5 and 21.0 C. Valdez and Carter (1983) <br />reported a similar phenomenon 35 river miles upstream, as drift densities <br />increased and peaked during increasing river temperatures but dropped off <br />