State’s Hatchery Fish Also Having Tough Time Surviving

The survival problems that have all but decimated Idaho’s wild salmon runs are taking their toll on the state’s hatchery fish as well.

The state Fish and Game Department reported that poor migration survival of young salmon to the ocean in 1992 and 1993 combined with poor ocean conditions hit the hatchery fish hard.

“Even though 13.3 million young salmon were released from hatcheries above Lower Granite Dam in 1992 and 1993, less than 1,000 hatchery spring and summer chinook adults are expected to cross Lower Granite Dam near Lewiston this summer,” said Sharon Keifer, the department’s salmon and steelhead coordinator.

Officials expect only about 600 naturally produced spring and summer chinook to cross Lower Granite this summer. Those runs have been declared endangered under federal law.

Keifer said that is fewer wild chinook in the entire Snake River Basin than were counted in just the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in 1993.

While the dramatically reduced runs have had a severe impact on Idaho’s Indian tribes and some local economies along traditional salmon fishing reaches, there has yet to be an agreement on how the runs should be revived.

The plan of former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus to draw down the four lower Snake River reservoirs below minimum operating levels to speed the water flows for migrating fish has essentially been abandoned since Andrus left office Jan. 2.

But while downstream interests, concerned about losing power generation, irrigation and river navigation, have pressed for continued emphasis on barging fish around the dams, Andrus’ successor Phil Batt and others have said the dams themselves are the culprit and must be modified.

Barging critics point out that in the two decades that program has been in use, the runs have done nothing but deteriorate. Last year nearly 4,000 spring and summer chinook cleared Lower Granite.

The previous low was in 1980 when twice that many - 8,200 - cleared the dam.

“Many salmon spawning streams and hatcheries in Idaho will be empty this year,” Keifer said.

“Empty streams and hatcheries means loss of future salmon fishing, loss of natural resource industry and loss of cultural use.”