Sports
B1
Appeal Tribune, www.silvertonappeal.com
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
STEELHEAD RUNS PLUMMET
STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE
The number of steelhead returning to the North Santiam is at its lowest level in recorded history.
Lowest numbers counted for
Santiam, Willamette systems
ZACH URNESS
STATESMAN JOURNAL
It’s been a historically bad year for
one of Oregon’s most beloved fish on the
Santiam and Willamette river systems.
Steelhead, both native and hatchery-
raised, are returning in the lowest num-
bers since fish counts began in the 1970s,
fisheries managers said.
“The steelhead run has basically
crashed,” said Dave Carpenter, a fishing
guide on the North Santiam River.
“We’ve seen ups and downs over the
years, as you do any place. But this is the
first year we’ve seen such a dramatic
drop. We’ve never seen anything even
close to this bad.”
In an average year, about 5,600 wild
winter steelhead are counted crossing
Willamette Falls. This year, it was
around 800.
Hatchery-raised summer steelhead
usually return about 18,000 fish per year.
This year, the count stands at 1,100 (al-
though fish will continue to be counted
through July).
“We’ve known this was coming,” said
Bruce McIntosh, deputy fish chief of in-
land fisheries for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife. “And it’s been
as bad or worse than we thought.”
Two main factors have led to the de-
cline, McIntosh said. Four years of poor
ocean conditions — including the so-
called “blob” of warm water in the Pacif-
ic Ocean — played a big role. Multiple
years of drought, including the historic
drought of 2015, only made the problem
worse.
In other words, steelhead that migrat-
ed to the ocean as smolts around 2013
have found precious little food.
“The fish we’ve seen coming back are
often skinny and clearly struggling to
make a living out there,” McIntosh said.
At the same time runs have dropped,
the number of sea lions feasting on steel-
head at Willamette Falls has increased.
McIntosh said sea lions ate 20 to 25 per-
cent of the steelhead run this year.
“That’s off the charts,” he said. “While
passage at federal dams remain the pri-
mary constraint to recovery for winter
steelhead, California sea lions have
emerged as a significant new threat to
their survival in the last decade.”
It’s unclear whether steelhead num-
bers will rebound next year. While ther-
e’re some signs of ocean conditions re-
covering, fish runs during the next two
years will likely be smaller than normal,
McIntosh said.
New rules to save steelhead?
The question officials and local
guides are grappling with is whether
regulation changes limiting fishing
could help the beleaguered fish.
Carpenter, a fishing guide on the San-
tiam, said he’s stopped offering steel-
head trips even though it’s a major part
of his business.
“This year I canceled five steelhead
trips just because I could see the writing
on the wall,” Carpenter said. “It’s taking
money out of my pocket, but it was easy
to see the fish weren’t coming. Protect-
ing this resources far outweighs my per-
sonal gain.”
Carpenter said ODFW should take
more proactive action. He’s worried
spawning fish could be accidentally
caught and injured by anglers targeting
trout, salmon and hatchery summer
steelhead. He suggested a fishing clo-
sure during winter steelhead spawning,
“or at least move to artificial fly, lure and
single hook during that period,” he said.
“In a typical year, people are out
throwing gobs of bait for spring chinook
and summer steelhead,” he said. “The
chance of a (wild winter fish) being acci-
dentally caught or unknowingly harvest-
ed is pretty high.”
WINTER STEELHEAD COUNTS AT WILLAMETTE FALLS
20,000
15,000
10,000
5000
0
97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
HATCHERY-RAISED SUMMER STEELHEAD COUNTS AT WILLAMETTE FALLS
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5000
0
97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 7*
19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 201
*As of June 15, 2017; numbers incomplete, as fish passage will continue through June and July
Source: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
PHOTO COURTESY OF ODFW
Sea lions have been eating steelhead at Willamette Falls in ever greater numbers.
State officials seek permit to
remove fish-eating sea lions
ZACH URNESS
STATESMAN JOURNAL
State wildlife officials are seeking
permits that would allow them to remove
and take lethal action against California
sea lions at Willamette Falls.
The animals have become a threat to
the survival of endangered fish that pass
the falls en route to the Upper Willam-
ette watershed, officials said.
This year, sea lions ate an estimated
20 to 25 percent of the wild winter steel-
head waiting to enter the fish ladder, said
Bruce McIntosh, deputy fish chief of in-
land fisheries for the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife.
“That’s off the charts,” McIntosh said.
“It’s been an issue for at least five years,
but we’ve reached the point recently
where it’s become a crisis.
The number of sea lions at the falls
has jumped from just a few animals to
more than 40 during the past year, in an
area where they can easily target fish re-
turning from the ocean.
“(Willamette Falls) is a predator trap,
they’ve got them right where they want
them and can just kind of hone in,” McIn-
tosh said. “Under the current rules, we
can do a variety of hazing methods, but it
hasn’t had much of an impact.”
While sea lions are most commonly
associated with the ocean, they range far
from salt water in search of fish and
have historically trolled Willamette
Falls and far up the Columbia.
It wouldn’t be the first time state offi-
cials sought lethal action against sea li-
ons for eating fish.
Five years ago, Oregon and Washing-
ton received federal authorization to kill
sea lions for eating salmon at Bonneville
Dam on the Columbia River. Officials
trapped and euthanized 54 sea lions in
2016.
Under current rules, ODFW must
document the impact for three years be-
fore applying for the special permit.
The agency has done that, McIntosh
said, and could get approval to take ac-
tion as early as next winter.
The National Oceanic and Atmos-
pheric Administration’s Fisheries Ser-
vice will make the final decision.
“It will be a big decision for them,”
McIntosh said. “None of us want to pit
one animal against another, but when
you see this type of impact, there’s no
choice but to look for all the tools avail-
able.”
The Humane Society of the United
States opposes culling sea lions and filed
a lawsuit to prevent action at Bonnville
Dam that ultimately failed.
“What troubles us the most about kill-
ing sea lions is that they’re using it as a
distraction from the real problems fac-
ing the fish,” said Sharon Young, marine
issues field director for Humane Soci-
ety. “They’re not adequately addressing
the real problems, which is dams, habitat
loss, over-fishing and ocean conditions.
“They’re basically trying to put a
Band-Aid on a hemorrhage. It might be
satisfying, but it’s not going to change
anything for the fish.”
McIntosh said it was a matter of sea
lions getting habituated to an easy meal
at the falls. The number of sea lions there
has steadily increased, despite hazing ef-
forts that included “sea-lion bombs,”
rubber bullets and chasing them off.
This year, officials used a trap to catch
sea lions and relocate them.
He also noted that the sea lions cap-
tured will be made available to marine
parks and zoos before lethal action is tak-
en.
“They’re smart animals,” he said.
“But if we got to the point where there
was 100 of them there … it would be hard
to imagine. Almost like getting overrun
by the huns.”
Zach Urness has been an outdoors
writer, photographer and videographer
in Oregon for nine years. He is the author
of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon”
and
can
be
reached
at
zurness@StatesmanJournal.com
or
(503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at
@ZachsORoutdoors.