Sockeye (salmon) come back in record numbers

[depakid]

Returning Columbia River system fish are more plentiful than at any time since 1955

One of the great fish surprises in years has landed in the Northwest: Sockeye salmon, an ocean-going species that starts and ends its life hundreds of river miles inland, have swum their way up the Columbia River this summer in numbers unseen in five decades.

No one knows exactly why. Some say it's because federal courts ordered the release of extra water over dams in 2006 and 2007 to make passage easier when the fish were young and migrating to sea. Others cite improved ocean conditions.

The undisputed fact: Sockeye salmon runs have hit historic, post-dam-construction highs this summer in the Columbia and Snake rivers, an unexpected positive sign for a species close to being written off in parts of the Northwest's largest river system.

The fish counts, which have surprised the experts, include nearly 215,000 red salmon counted at Bonneville dam through Tuesday, the biggest number of adults returning from the ocean since 1955.

Most of those fish followed the Columbia River up to Washington's Wenatchee and Osoyoos lakes, while a far smaller number -- representing the system's most endangered run -- swam on to Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River. With the journey past the dams nearly over, the count of returning adult sockeye there topped 800 through Tuesday.

That's a tiny number in relative terms, and the Snake River fish still have to make it to their home lakes in central Idaho. But it's the highest sockeye return recorded at Lower Granite since it was built in 1975, and nearly 25 times the average return of the last 10 years. Ten years ago two sockeye came back.

The returning Snake River sockeye, remnants of the first population to be listed as endangered on the Columbia system 17 years ago, were all likely produced by a "duplicate broodstock" hatchery program in central Idaho that is trying to keep the genetic lineage of wild Snake River sockeye alive.

That marathon run and the higher numbers demonstrates that the fish, despite their small numbers, "haven't lost the long-standing traits that this population has deployed to survive for the last 10,000 years," said Paul Kline, assistant fisheries bureau chief for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The good sockeye news follows on relatively good returns of spring chinook to the Columbia and good early indications on steelhead. But this being salmon in the Northwest, the focus has turned from applauding the sockeye numbers to fiercely debating why they're so high.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1216877107209520.xml&coll=7

[TomInTib]

1. Great! Hopefully, the price will soon reflect this increase.

Even here in NorCal, wild salmon is over $30/lb.

[hogwyld]

6. Not to rain on your parade or anything

But I'd rather salmon went to $60 per lb. We need to cut demand for this endangered species, and let nature heal itself. When the stocks return in the millions, we can then consider allowing limited quotas. My Dad used to spin tales of when the Columbia looked like you could walk on it. I remember some rivers in Alaska in the '70s that were the same.

[robinlynne]

9. Really. If there are only 800, we better not eat them!

[jpak]

2. K&R

:thumbsup:

[dweller]

3. sock it to 'em fish

"Ten years ago two sockeye came back."


now that's some busy fishies.
dp

[bluesmail]

4. I lived on the Oregon Coast for 20 years

knew a fisherman that was not able to fish because of the salmon fishing bans. This is great news, thanks.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. Thank God! Yay!

[BigBearJohn]

7. Thanks for posting this. I am encouraged.

[depakid]

8. It's nice to be able to post something demostrably positive in E & E

We were just at Bonneville about two weeks ago, were surprised at the numbers of chinook at the fish ladders. Tons of lampreys were migrating too (now that's an ugly critter if there ever was one).

[DCKit]

10. Best E&E news in... forever.

Now, if we could begin to address some of our water quality issues here on the east coast....

[pscot]

11. An Alaskan sockeye found its way to my dinner table

tonight. $3.99 a pound at the local Red Apple market.

[kristopher]

12. Wonderful news. nt

[Tindalos]

13. Great news!

It will take more than one year to rebuild the populations though. Hopefully the fish continue to recover.

[Kolesar]

14. The "60 Minutes" segment made a good case for removing the 4 dams on the Snake River

Those are the newest dams on the Snake-Columbia system. The only people who profit from them are the aluminum industry, who gets cheap electricity for less than one cent per kilowatt*hour.

[hatrack]

15. The first large-scale good news I've seen here in quite a while

Bravo!!!