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Report: Terns, cormorants tanking 15-20 percent of Columbia smolts

Gripping freshly caught salmon smolts, Caspian terns gather near their nesting colony on Rice Island near Astoria, Ore. Now, cormorants are joining the feeding frenzy along the Columbia River.Associated Press (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
By Rich Landers richl@spokesman.com(509) 459-5508
Gripping freshly caught salmon smolts, Caspian terns gather near their nesting colony on Rice Island near Astoria, Ore. Now, cormorants are joining the feeding frenzy along the Columbia River.Associated Press (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Gripping freshly caught salmon smolts, Caspian terns gather near their nesting colony on Rice Island near Astoria, Ore. Now, cormorants are joining the feeding frenzy along the Columbia River.Associated Press (File Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

FISHERIES — Combined losses of juvenile salmon and steelhead to predation by Caspian terns and double-crested cormorants in the Columbia River estuary were about 27 million smolts this year, according to a preliminary report by to federal and Oregon State University researchers.

If that number holds up, that consumption by avian predators nesting on East Sand Island would represent a toll of 15-20 percent on the overall number of hatchery and wild fish that survived their journey down the Snake, Willamette and Columbia rivers and tributaries to near the Columbia’s mouth.

Of that total, an estimated 22.6 million smolts were taken by the double-crested cormorants, which is up from 19 million in 2010.

Read details from researchers in this Columbia Basin Bulletin report .

* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Outdoors Blog." Read all stories from this blog