THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015
NORTH COAST
Record-setting Chinook salmon
season drawing to a close soon
Historically strong El
˜ may only last a
Nino
season, forecasters say
Columbia Basin Bulletin
COLUMBIA RIVER —
Some 953,706 fall Chinook
passed Bonneville Dam as of
Nov. 12, the most fall Chi-
nook passing the dam since
it was built 77 years ago.
The previous record was set
LQ ZKHQ ¿VK
passed the dam.
Upriver the number of fall
Chinook spawning at Hanford
Reach is also breaking re-
cords and passage of fall Chi-
nook into the Snake River is
the second best year since the
four lower Snake River dams
were built in the 1970s.
The estimated 2015 fall
Chinook run at the Columbia
River mouth, however, still
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second largest run since the
construction of Bonneville
Dam and 132 percent of the
preseason forecast.
That’s just short of the
record-breaking 2013 run of
fall Chinook (1,268,400) at
the river’s mouth and slight-
ly more than last year’s count
(1,159,100).
The run estimate of fall
Chinook was set in mid-Oc-
tober by the U.S. v. Oregon
Technical Advisory Com-
mittee which updates salmon
and steelhead run estimates
every couple of weeks while
FRPPHUFLDODQGWULEDO¿VKLQJ
is taking place on the Co-
lumbia River. The advisory
committee quit doing run size
estimates as the fall treaty and
QRQWUHDW\ &KLQRRN ¿VKHULHV
wound down. The committee
ZLOO ¿QDOL]H UXQ VL]HV DW WKH
end of season.
“Breaking this record to-
day is truly something to cel-
ebrate,” Paul Lumley, execu-
tive director of the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Com-
mission, said of the Bonne-
ville Dam record. “The suc-
cess of this fall Chinook run
UHÀHFWV WKH UHJLRQ¶V FRPPLW-
ment to healthy salmon runs
and the collaborative spirit
that has made it possible.”
Shannon Dininny/AP Photo File
The Columbia River flows through the Hanford Reach National Monument, Wash., in this
2007 photo. The federal government says fall Chinook salmon are returning to the Hanford
Reach section of the river in record-setting numbers.
of fall Chinook, listed under
the federal Endangered Spe-
cies Act as threatened in 1992,
“to intensive restoration ef-
forts by the Nez Perce Tribe,”
according to a commission
news release.
As planned, Idaho closed
DOO IDOO &KLQRRN ¿VKLQJ RQ
Nov. 17 on the Snake River.
The season ended Oct. 31
in the Clearwater and Salmon
rivers and in the Snake River,
except the reach from Cliff
Mountain Rapids to Hells
Canyon Dam. That section
closed Nov. 17.
As of Nov. 1, anglers had
caught and kept 150 marked
adults and 22 jack fall Chi-
nook, and caught and released
XQPDUNHG¿VKLQWKHORZ-
er Clearwater River. They
caught and kept 540 marked
adults and 133 marked jacks,
DQGUHOHDVHGPDUNHG¿VKLQ
the Snake River. Anglers also
caught and released 2,889 un-
PDUNHG¿VKLQWKH6QDNH5LY-
er, according to information
provided by the Idaho Depart-
ment of Fish and Game.
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Some 59,059 of the salm-
on have passed Lower Granite
Dam, the most upstream dam
on the lower Snake River, as
RI 7KXUVGD\ 7KH ¿VK FRP-
mission gives credit to the run
as rain- and snow-producing
systems have been passing
through California every few
SACRAMENTO — Fore- days, and that pattern is ex-
casters still expect historically pected to continue through No-
strong El Niño conditions to vember. However, the storms
usher in a parade of storm clouds have so far been brought by a
this winter, but the phenomenon polar jet stream pushing cold
systems down from the north,
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The federal Climate Pre- said Michelle Mead, a Nation-
diction Center still expects that al Weather Service warning
this winter’s El Niño could coordinator in Sacramento.
“Therefore, the recent
rank among the three strongest
since 1950 and that the typical storms are not associated with
pattern of southern storms will El Niño,” Mead said in an
email. “Rather, this is a more
PDWHULDOL]HRI¿FLDOVVDLG
Warming sea-surface tem- ‘typical’ Northern California
peratures in the equatorial Pa- weather pattern for this time of
FL¿F2FHDQQHDUO\PDWFKWKRVH year. It’s just that we haven’t
in the fall of 1997 and exceed seen a typical fall/winter sea-
those in 1972 and 1982, all big son over the past four years,
rainfall years, the center notes. so these systems seem more
But after peaking this win- unusual to folks.”
ter, the El Niño pattern may
Warmer storms with
recede quickly, returning to the
higher snow levels
neutral sea-surface and atmo-
El Niño storms tend to be
spheric conditions that have
prevailed through much of warmer with higher snow lev-
California’s four-year drought. els, so when the sub-tropical
“There is an approximately jet stream storm track kicks
95 percent chance that El Niño in, the potential for warmer
will continue through Northern storms will increase, she said.
Even so, many areas in
Hemisphere 2015-16, gradual-
ly weakening through spring Central California are off to
2016,” the CPC concluded in a fast start in terms of rain-
fall, exceeding their normal
a written update.
seasonal totals, while many
California needs more northern areas are still lagging
than one wet winter
behind their normal precipi-
Water experts have said tation levels for this time of
California would need more than year, according to the National
one wet and snowy winter to Weather Service.
For instance, Salinas had
emerge from its historic drought.
The last El Niño in Cali- recorded 2.21 inches of rain-
fornia in the winter of 2009- fall for the water year as of
2010 interrupted a three-year Nov. 12, well above its aver-
drought. But before this year’s age of 1.03 inches, while the
recurrence, sea surface tem- 2.35 inches that had fallen on
peratures across the equatorial Eureka as of Nov. 12 was well
3DFL¿FKDYHPRVWO\EHHQQHDU below its seasonal average of
average since spring of 2012, 4.11 inches, according to the
meaning neither El Niño or weather service. The water
/D 1LQD LQÀXHQFHG ZHDWKHU year begins Oct. 1.
El Niño’s storm track may
patterns. During much of that
time, a strong ridge of high WDNHKROGE\WKH¿UVWZHHNRI
pressure off California’s coast December, when California’s
blocked storms from entering, Central Valley could see thun-
derstorms with afternoon tem-
causing the current drought.
The latest outlook comes peratures in the mid-60s.
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
of Thursday, amounts to just
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The coho run is so dismal
that the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife closed
UHFUHDWLRQDOFRKRVDOPRQ¿VK-
ing on Eagle Creek, effective
Nov. 8. The closure was at the
request of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service which oper-
ates the Eagle Creek National
Fish Hatchery near Estacada.
“Based on reports through
this week, returns to the
hatchery are well below their
production goals,” said Chris
Kern, deputy administrator
Protection work to
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continue
“Unfortunately, this action
As they celebrate the re-
is necessary to aid the situa-
turn of the fall Chinook,
tion.”
Lumley pledged “to continue
6WHHOKHDG ¿VKLQJ LQ (DJOH
our protection and restoration
Creek remains open. Fishing
work that helped make it pos-
in the Clackamas River is not
sible. The lessons the region
affected by the rule change.
has learned in achieving the
Lower Columbia Riv-
success we’ve seen so far will
er tributaries in Washington
help us address upcoming
have been restricted for nearly
impacts such as the predicted
two weeks due to the poor run
El Niño this winter and the
of coho salmon.
long-term effects of climate
Finally, the two-state Co-
change.”
lumbia River compact ap-
7KH ¿VK FRPPLVVLRQ VDLG
proved an extension of treaty
Disappointing run of
that this year’s fall Chinook
VHWOLQHVWXUJHRQ¿VKLQJLQWKH
coho
“enjoyed excellent ocean con-
Bonneville and The Dalles
The announcements were reservoirs. Harvest by tribal
GLWLRQV DQG XQOLNH WKH ¿VK
migrating during the sum- made as tribal, commercial ¿VKHUV WKLV IDOO LQFOXGHG DQ
mer, they enjoyed good mi- DQG UHFUHDWLRQDO ¿VKHULHV DUH 11.5 day period in late Oc-
grating conditions. The fall winding down a late summer tober in the The Dalles pool,
&KLQRRN DOVR EHQH¿WHG IURP and fall that saw record-break- where 119 sturgeon were har-
tribal efforts using hatcheries ing runs of fall Chinook, a vested, and 11.5 days in the
to rebuild naturally spawning smaller than average run of Bonneville pool, where 26
populations throughout the steelhead and a disappointing ¿VKZHUHKDUYHVWHG
Columbia River Basin, har- run of coho salmon that, as
Some 404 sturgeon were
vest management actions on
WKH 3DFL¿F 2FHDQ DQG PDLQ-
stem Columbia, and strong
collaborative efforts to im-
prove habitat.”
Farther upstream at Han-
ford Reach near Washington’s
(some stores open AT 6 p.m.)
Tri-Cities, fall Chinook salm-
on are spawning in record
numbers. Biologists estimate
as many as 200,000 of the
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Reach alongside the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation, and
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to a one-mile stretch of river
known as Vernita Bar.
Nearly 500,000 fall Chi-
nook (498,969) crossed Mc-
Nary Dam, the southern bound-
ary of the 51-mile long Hanford
Reach, to get to the Reach.
This represents the most
spawning fall Chinook at
Hanford Reach since the
1930s, according to the Bon-
neville Power Administration.
There is also good news
for the fall Chinook run into
Pick a gift off the
the Snake River in Idaho,
which is the second largest
tree with purchase
run on record, according to
of $50 or more.
WKH¿VKFRPPLVVLRQ
Threatened species
3A
harvested throughout 2015 by
WULEDO¿VKHUVLQWKH%RQQHYLOOH
pool, leaving an allotment of
¿VK ,Q7KH 'DOOHV SRRO
WULEDO¿VKHUVKDYHFDXJKW
leaving an allotment of 113.
They have caught 884 stur-
geon in the John Day pool,
leaving an allotment of 116,
EXW KDYH FKRVHQ QRW WR ¿VK
that pool with setlines. Fish-
ing will be allowed to the
end of 2015 in the Bonneville
pool and to Wednesday in The
Dalles pool.
Join u s
for a
FREE
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