Low steelhead run worrisome

Sat., Aug. 5, 2006

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

BOISE – Biologists with the state Department of Fish and Game say they are concerned by early numbers that could indicate a low return of steelhead to Idaho.

“It’s definitely got our attention,” said Sharon Kiefer, anadromous fish manager for the department. “We’re not in a panic yet, but we’re paying real close attention.”

The 10-year average number of steelhead that have passed through Bonneville Dam by early August is 120,000. So far, just 66,000 have made it past the dam. Bonneville is the first of eight dams the oceangoing fish pass before reaching Idaho.

Last year at this time, about 106,000 steelhead had made it past the dam. In 2001, more than 300,000 steelhead had passed the dam by this time. The 10-year average total of steelhead past the dam is 312,000.

Fishing seasons and bag limits this season will not be changed unless the run turns out to be well below recent years, Kiefer said.

Most steelhead returning this year headed to the ocean in 2005, when ocean conditions were poor for young fish due to low amounts of phytoplankton and zooplankton, primary food sources.

Mike Cummins, who owns the Shed Fly Shop in the northern Idaho town of Peck, said he hooked his first summer steelhead last year on July 1, but so far this year has not heard of anyone catching a steelhead.

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