Fish runs rebounding, but still threatened

LEWISTON — A state fisheries biologist says Snake River salmon and steelhead runs have rebounded but haven’t yet reached numbers where they can be considered out of danger.
Pete Hassemer of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game tells the Lewiston Tribune that the federally protected wild fish runs have been trending upward.
But while recovery appears to be headed in the right direction, he says the fish are still threatened and the streams are still under seeded.
Populations of wild steelhead, spring and summer chinook and fall chinook that return to the Snake River and its tributaries have been …

LEWISTON — A state fisheries biologist says Snake River salmon and steelhead runs have rebounded but haven’t yet reached numbers where they can be considered out of danger.

Pete Hassemer of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game tells the Lewiston Tribune that the federally protected wild fish runs have been trending upward.

But while recovery appears to be headed in the right direction, he says the fish are still threatened and the streams are still under seeded.

Populations of wild steelhead, spring and summer chinook and fall chinook that return to the Snake River and its tributaries have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since the 1990s.

Snake River sockeye are listed as endangered.