Dubya's Failed Barging Hurts Idaho Anglers and Hunters

[JoseCuervo]

Let's hope the door doesn't hit Dubya in the butt on his way out. 8 long years of hunters and fishermen being harmed by his failed policies.

University of Idaho scientists study ways to preserve native fish populations
MOSCOW, Idaho – There’s no such thing in this world as a “free” ride – even for fish. A University of Idaho fisheries research group recently investigated how juvenile salmonids transported downstream on boats can lose the ability to migrate back to their breeding grounds, reducing their survivorship and altering adaptations in the wild.
When dams block rivers, migrating fish – especially juveniles – can have a tough time traveling past dams. Though juvenile transportation programs have been in place for more than three decades to improve the survival of fish that hatch in rivers, Matthew Keefer, College of Natural Resources fisheries scientist, has found that this free ride can create problems when the juveniles grow up.
Keefer and his colleagues, Christopher Caudill, Christopher Peery and Steven Lee, tracked the movement patterns of adult salmon and steelhead trout along the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington and Oregon. They found that, when compared to fish that migrated naturally, transported juveniles had lower survivorship as adults and were less likely to find their way home.
“Adult fish usually move steadily upstream toward their spawning grounds, but some instead will move back downstream over dams,” said Keefer. This phenomenon, called fallback by fisheries managers, occurs more often in adults that were barged out as juveniles than in those that migrated naturally. Fallback behavior reduces adult survival, both because fish can be injured as they pass downstream over dams and because extra time and energy is needed to for fish to re-ascend dam fish ladders.
“It’s not clear if they’re just running out of steam swimming up the river or if they get disoriented and move back downstream in search of cues from their home river,” Keefer said.
The scientists believe that being carried on a barge prevents young fish from learning about important environmental signals during a formative time of their juvenile lives. A barge can take them the same distance in two to three days that would normally take them several weeks, Keefer explains. Traveling great distances – at least 215 miles – appears to garble the natural cues these fish use to find their way home.
The study results also suggest that transported fish are more likely to stray from their home tributary. If these lost fish – often from hatchery populations – breed with another wild population, the resulting gene flow can reduce that population’s evolutionary fitness.
“Salmon have a life history that represents a long legacy of adaptation to local conditions,” Keefer said. “The fish are well-adapted to specific rivers, and when you dilute their unique genetic makeup, it can reduce the productivity of the overall population.”
A satisfactory solution is difficult to find. Managers could barge fewer juveniles, but then more fish would die while trying to pass the dams. They also could release more water over dam spillways to help juveniles pass downstream, but that would reduce the amount of energy the dams produce. A third option is to slow down the barges so the trip resembles the time it takes juveniles to swim to the ocean. But boats are a stressful environment for fish, and the close quarters within the barges increase the risk of disease.
“It’s tough to find a solution that could handle all the challenges in this system,” Keefer said.
Scientists and salmon managers hope to find the ideal solution: one that would preserve native fish populations and maximize their survival while keeping the integrity of energy-producing dams.
The groups’ study, “Transporting Juvenile Salmonids around Dams Impairs Adult Migration,” recently was published in the December issue of Ecological Applications, a scientific journal published by the Ecological Society of America.

 

[Tom]

Those Univ.of Idaho scientists did a neat study, eh. They found out barged fish get lost more often, that's pretty amazing, but did it matter? They barged more, but more got lost or turned around, because there were more fish upstream than expected. They couldn't tell which. Did the barges have fish portholes, big ones, so all the fish could see where they were going while being barged?

Maybe for a few more million in research, they could figure out, if it matters or if the portholes would help. What does Obama want to do about it? Anything? At least Bush helped those Idahoans do something, eh? Does Obama have anything to say on barged fish?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Those Univ.of Idaho scientists did a neat study, eh. They found out barged fish get lost more often, that's pretty amazing, but did it matter? They barged more, but more got lost or turned around, because there were more fish upstream than expected. They couldn't tell which. Did the barges have fish portholes, big ones, so all the fish could see where they were going while being barged?

Maybe for a few more million in research, they could figure out, if it matters or if the portholes would help. What does Obama want to do about it? Anything? At least Bush helped those Idahoans do something, eh? Does Obama have anything to say on barged fish?

Tom,

What did Bush help Idahoans with? Judge Redden has Ordered the Bush Administration to do what little they have done.

If complying with a Judge's order is an accomplishment for Bush, then you are easily impressed.

 

[Tom]

Jose, do you know when barging started? A very long time ago.

Here's a 1994 article that says they'd been doing it for 17 years back then.

Governor's Quest for the Fish of Memory
By TIMOTHY EGAN,
Published: January 2, 1994
Critics say Mr. Andrus's plan is too costly and will not work. Many of the young fish will still get caught in turbines or eaten by predators before they can make their way out to sea, the critics say.

These critics say the Columbia's water managers should stick with their current method of saving salmon, which is to carry millions of small fish around eight dams in barges and then dump them into the Columbia about 100 miles from the sea.

Mr. Andrus turns red when asked what is wrong with this tactic. "It's never worked!" he said. "It's bull! Look at the numbers: they've been barging fish downstream for 17 years, and the salmon are nearly extinct!" Relying on Barges ...

Its been a failed policy for you people up there a long long time, way before Bush. I'm sure people there got paid for it, so they liked being on the federal dole for money, just as the researches like that.

What's the solution, got any solutions? They decided against those salmon a long long time ago when they built those dams you people use up there. Enjoy cheap lightbulbs, forget the salmon. Was that their motto back then?

 

[JoseCuervo]

Tom

Barging doesn't work. Breaching does.

Lightbulbs cost the same no matter what store you go to. I just bought some for $3 each that were the CFL ones....

 

[Tom]

Sounds like a good buy, I hope Obama keeps the good stuff up and the salmon numbers return.

 

[AZ402]

I love reading Tom's posts! Especially when he's handing it to Jose..

 

[noharleyyet]

I love reading Tom's posts! Especially when he's handing it to Jose..

Tom's sig line should read....'unfazed'

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Though juvenile transportation programs have been in place for more than three decades to improve the survival of fish that hatch in rivers,

So Dubya is responsible for the last 3 decades of fish transportation? The study was ordered by a judge and Bush is not responsible for that.....so what are you blaming on Bush????

 

[AZ402]

so what are you blaming on Bush????

Anything he can.

 

[JoseCuervo]

So Dubya is responsible for the last 3 decades of fish transportation? The study was ordered by a judge and Bush is not responsible for that.....so what are you blaming on Bush????

Cali,

The study does not harm fish. Studies are good. They provide the science to make decisions. It was Dubya and the GOP that pulled funding from the Fish Passage Center after they didn't like the science being provided.

Dubya gets no blame for doing studies and seeking science. Just the opposite, he and his administration (see Julie MacDonald) chose to ignore or falsify the science.

 

[Tom]

What funding did the Fish Passage Center loose? His administration likely funded the study you're quoting if you check? Now, you're talking about something else, the Fish Passage Center. That's something else, not this study about barged fish getting lost or turning around, because there's lots of fish there already, they couldn't tell which was the case.

 

[heelerdog]

Cali,

The study does not harm fish. Studies are good. They provide the science to make decisions. It was Dubya and the GOP that pulled funding from the Fish Passage Center after they didn't like the science being provided.

Dubya gets no blame for doing studies and seeking science. Just the opposite, he and his administration (see Julie MacDonald) chose to ignore or falsify the science.

Jose's got a point Bush, and MacDonald are the only one's to ever ignore or falsify the science to their own ends.

Putz

I still cannot get over that on occasion Jose shoots out something stoopid, and I still feel compelled to retort.

 

[1_pointer]

Though juvenile transportation programs have been in place for more than three decades to improve the survival of fish that hatch in rivers

It's all GW's fault...

Besides, how does this affect hunters?