Chinook Remains Found On Boat Ramp Could Be Federal Crime If Salmon Were Wild Out Of The Clearwater River

Idaho wildlife officials are puzzling over the remains of three salmon, found in a garbage sack on a Clearwater River boat ramp.

They were apparently fall-run chinook. If they were wild fish taken from the Clearwater, then a federal crime has been committed. They would be among the rarest of the endangered Snake River chinook.

“If the fish were poached from the Clearwater River, why would someone put them where they were found? Most criminals try to hide evidence,” said conservation officer Matt Erickson of the state Fish and Game Department.

On Tuesday, he said, investigators had one lead but no suspects.

Only a remnant population of wild fall chinook remains. As of Sunday, with the migration season nearly over, only 1,110 adults had made it past Lower Granite Dam on their return journey from the ocean to their spawning grounds in Idaho rivers. A few of those may be stray hatchery fish from other states.

“We’re definitely concerned with what is going on,” Erickson said. “If in fact those fish were taken from the Clearwater River, it would be a very big deal.”

The fish, found Oct. 16, might also have come from another river. That was the case with four chinook carcasses found floating in the Clearwater last October, about 15 miles from where the latest chinook were found.

Examination of fish scales in the unsolved 1994 incident indicated that those salmon probably came from a hatchery on the upper Columbia River in Washington.

Those were whole fish, making laboratory tests easier. The fish found on Oct. 16 had been filleted.

“There wasn’t a whole lot left,” said Erickson.

The latest fish were about 36 inches long and may have weighed 18 pounds, he said.

The remains looked to be about three days old, Erickson said. They were discovered by a Clearwater County sheriff’s deputy at the Pink House boat ramp, east of Lewiston, around 8 a.m.

It’s rare to find carcasses left along a river, Erickson said. Most anglers take fish home and clean them.

The Clearwater is a popular stream for catching steelhead, a big trout that can be confused with chinook. Anglers are asked to look for a dark gum line, which indicates the fish on their hook is a chinook and not a steelhead.

Because steelhead numbers are down, they are also supposed to be released when caught in the Clearwater upstream of Lewiston.

Some people believe the National Marine Fisheries Service should outlaw steelhead fishing in areas where endangered salmon might be caught.

Erickson wouldn’t speculate on the possibility that someone was making a protest by littering the river with salmon carcasses.

Information about the incident can be called anonymously to the poaching hotline (for Idaho callers only, 800 632-5999) or to the Fish and Game office in Lewiston 208 799-5010.

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