Chinook Salmon Smolts Begin Migration Early

Young salmon trying to make their way to the Pacific Ocean from Idaho streams are not waiting for paperwork their migration is running two to three weeks early, a biologist says.

The debate about how best to save the Snake Rivers salmon runs sprang anew this week with Monday’s release of the most comprehensive federal plan yet.

Idaho Fish and Game Department fisheries biologist Ed Buettner said chinook salmon smolts began showing up in a fish trap along the Salmon River near White Bird last week.

“Normally we wouldn’t hit these kinds of numbers with wild fish until the first or second week of April,” Buettner said.

The Salmon and Clearwater rivers rose higher than normal this year as warm and rainy weather visited the region earlier than usual.

Near Riggins at the Rapid River Fish Hatchery, which is operated by Idaho Fish and Game, hatchery workers pulled the screens from ponds last week so the hatchery’s chinook smolts could leave when they wanted.

The count of hatchery-raised chinook smolts at the trap some 40 miles downstream reached nearly 1,000 two days later.