West coast salmon recovery

[Irrelevant]

This is a good read. Success but it took time and cooperation.

The Garcia: A River in Strong Recovery After a 30-Year Effort | Trees Foundation

By Craig Bell The strong recovery we are witnessing today in the Garcia River is thanks to a 30-year effort that began in 1991 when Mendocino County Supervisors approved the Garcia River Watershed Enhancement Plan (GRWEP, Caldon, Monschke, Higgins 1991). The GRWEP was the first watershed plan in...

treesfoundation.org

Maybe success.

WA has done several studies called Intensely Monitored Watersheds (IMWs). They are all 10 plus year studies where they collect multiple years of background info (spawning surveys, habitat surveys, snorkel surveys- both adult and fry), then spend several years improving the habitat in certain reaches why other reaches are used as controls, then they study the effects. All of the results I've tracked indicate that while the improved reaches see increased use, they almost always see a decrease in use of marginal habitat. And any overall population increases are usually small and still within the error of the survey and modeling techniques. Meaning fish will utilize the best habitat but that doesn't mean you have more fish.

There are exceptions but they almost always include the removal of barriers that were completely blocking migration.

However, I still support those types of projects as many things benefit from better habitat, including people. I also think it would be a great idea to follow through on his recommendation to monitor the results. We need all the data we can get.

 

[Goodfish]

Largest-Ever US Dam Removal Project Gets Federal Agencies' Nod

Kiewit would start $445M Klamath River work next year to take down four dams in Oregon and California after FERC and Interior Dept. sign off on key environmental review.

www.enr.com

California Rep. Jared Huffman (D), in an online statement. "Klamath dam removal will be the largest salmon restoration project in history. Removing these obsolete dams will help restore iconic salmon without reducing water supply."

 

[Irrelevant]

How we did it: Getting a handle on salmon data proved not so easy - OPB

 

[44hunter45]

How we did it: Getting a handle on salmon data proved not so easy - OPB

Good read.

 

[rtraverdavis]

How we did it: Getting a handle on salmon data proved not so easy - OPB

"Even when conditions were good, between 2008 and 2013, only two out of the eight populations managed to have more than 4% of their members make it back to fresh water as adults."

Wow. So even when ocean conditions are at their best, the hatcheries still aren't cutting it. Thanks for posting that.

 

[lynlan1819]

I know in BC the fish farms are doing a tremendous damage to the Coho and Sockeye fisheries. The amount of sea lice the congregates around these farms is killing the fry that are coming out of these rivers. Almost all of the indigenous tribes on the BC coast have tried to remove the farms from their waters but the Federal Government ignores them and allows it to continue. I fear native Salmon and Steelhead will become extinct in under a decade

This is the major problem ^ Canada politicians could careless.

 

[Irrelevant]

There are too many pink salmon in the Pacific

Pink salmon, pumped by the billions into the North Pacific from fish hatcheries, are upending marine ecosystems.

www.popsci.com

 

[Irrelevant]

Could be big news on the recovery front.

Government of Canada outlines next steps in transition from open-net pen salmon farming in British Columbia - Canada.ca

Wild Pacific salmon are of great importance to communities in British Columbia, both culturally and economically. However, wild Pacific salmon are facing historic threats and experiencing significant population declines. It is a Government of Canada priority to protect and restore our oceans and...

www.canada.ca

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Looks like another bad year for big salmon (Chums and Kings)
and a good year for sockeyes in Alaska.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced on June 21 that this summer
has seen the lowest ever summer chum runs as of this date on the Yukon River.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed king salmon sport fisheries on the Kenai Peninsula,
on the Kasilof and Ninilchik rivers, in Cook Inlet salt water, the Yukon/Tanana drainages,
and Copper River drainages.

For the past six seasons, the total sockeye run in Western Alaska’s fisheries has topped 50 million fish, well above the average of under 36 million from 1962 to 2021. The 2022 forecast is at least 60 million sockeyes out of Bristol Bay, 74 million statewide.

Pinks are the smallest of the Pacific salmon and the darlings of the hatchery industry in part because of their rapid life cycle.
It’s a heyday for pink salmon in the North Pacific. Across the region, there are three times more pink salmon in the ocean than there were about 50 years ago. Nearly three out of every four salmon in the North Pacific are pinks.
Last year over 161 million pinks were commercially harvested in Alaska, this year it is forecast to be just behind the total
sockeye harvest at 67 million pinks.

 

[Irrelevant]

PNW hatcheries aren't saving salmon, investigation finds

After two decades and $2 billion in spending, the U.S. government's promises to Native tribes to boost fish populations in Oregon and Washington haven't held up.

crosscut.com

 

[ashersdad]

PNW hatcheries aren't saving salmon, investigation finds

After two decades and $2 billion in spending, the U.S. government's promises to Native tribes to boost fish populations in Oregon and Washington haven't held up.

crosscut.com

That's pretty depressing...

 

[Joe Hulburt]

PNW hatcheries aren't saving salmon, investigation finds

After two decades and $2 billion in spending, the U.S. government's promises to Native tribes to boost fish populations in Oregon and Washington haven't held up.

crosscut.com

If anybody thought that we could build over 200 dams in a river system and not expect salmon populations to suffer they were out of touch with reality. It's amazing to me that there are as many salmon left in the Columbia as there are. Pretty outstanding run of hatchery Spring Chinook this year!

To expect 4% returns on wild fish is about as delusional. The average Chinook female has about 4,000 eggs. If 4% survived to return to freshwater that would mean a 160X increase in one generation.

Seems like another agenda driven twisted truth story to me. I will read it again but I don't see much useful information there. I guess we could start removing all the dams and put the Columbia back to it's original state but then how would people charge their electric cars that the current administration is trying to force onto us?

 

[Irrelevant]

If anybody thought that we could build over 200 dams in a river system and not expect salmon populations to suffer they were out of touch with reality. It's amazing to me that there are as many salmon left in the Columbia as there are. Pretty outstanding run of hatchery Spring Chinook this year!

To expect 4% returns on wild fish is about as delusional. The average Chinook female has about 4,000 eggs. If 4% survived to return to freshwater that would mean a 160X increase in one generation.

Seems like another agenda driven twisted truth story to me. I will read it again but I don't see much useful information there. I guess we could start removing all the dams and put the Columbia back to it's original state but then how would people charge their electric cars that the current administration is trying to force onto us?

If hydro power is the problem why are the runs on undammed, undeveloped rivers on the Olympic peninsula suffering the same fate? Or the Fraser

I agree that the piece wasn't nearly as scientific as I prefer. Just a summary from a particular perspective.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

If hydro power is the problem why are the runs on undammed, undeveloped rivers on the Olympic peninsula suffering the same fate? Or the Fraser

I agree that the piece wasn't nearly as scientific as I prefer. Just a summary from a particular perspective.

Hydropower certainly isn't the only problem but clearly it's not good for salmon to turn a free flowing river into a lake with hazardous fish passage if any. I just don't think it's reasonable to expect hatcheries to solve that problem. I believe hatcheries have their place in providing surplus harvestable fish but more often than not they are being blamed for problems unrelated to them.

I imagine a lot of the issues with the rivers you describe is overharvest in the ocean and damage to habitat both in river and at sea. We take a huge amount of salmon feed out of the ocean every year which certainly doesn't help! Millions of pounds of herring etc...

 

[Bigjay73]

When they talk about "North Pacific" waters, are they referring only to areas around Alaska?

 

[Bigjay73]

Salmon are still migrating through Seattle — but they’re in trucks

We've driven Seattle's signature salmon run, the Lake Washington sockeye, to the brink. So biologists have launched a rescue that literally drives the fish around the lake in trucks.

www.seattletimes.com

 

[Joe Hulburt]

When they talk about "North Pacific" waters, are they referring only to areas around Alaska?

I would think they are referring to the entire North Pacific as salmon migrate far and wide. Wherever Summer Steelhead go has been dismal for the last several years, but things are improving this year. Winter Steelhead have been doing a lot better at least here in Oregon so I assume they go to different areas?

 

[Goodfish]

These guys have been getting a lot of press lately. There are a couple other designs too.

Meet the Siblings Making Hydropower That Protects Ecosystems

“Every hydro project is also a water project, not just an energy project”

time.com

 

[ringer]

I fished Oregon every weekend through the 70s and 80s. There were huge runs of salmon and I doubt any dams were built since then. OF&G has closed hatcheries which doesn't help. Finally are starting to limit catch. About time. There are a few thousand guides and I have used many. They are good at finding and catching chinook. Think about the boats with 4 to 6 clients killing fish every day for years in the rivers. Adds up to over fishing the resource. I have made 27 trips to fish Alaska. When the commercial nets go out the chinook fishing dies. I doubt it is called bycatch when they are netting all of the fish during the season. Man is just a problem.

 

[lynlan1819]

Pinks are the future,the rest are history.