3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017
Steelhead runs hit lowest
number in almost 40 years
Summer
fish returns
drastically low
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
Summer steelhead returns
are off to a dismal start in 2017,
with 75 perfect fewer fish than
usual crossing Bonneville Dam
so far this season.
The latest research suggests
a big part of the recent popula-
tion decline may be tied to fac-
tors soon after juvenile steel-
head enter the ocean, such as
predation, parasites and indus-
trial contamination.
A study published in June in
the Canadian Journal of Fisher-
ies and Aquatic Sciences takes
a closer look at Pacific North-
west steelhead runs from the
Lower Columbia River and
Puget Sound, tracking the sur-
vival of smolts early in their
ocean life.
Neala Kendall, research sci-
entist and project leader with
the Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife in Olympia,
Washington, said the study did
not specifically examine upper
Columbia steelhead, though
ocean conditions apply to all
fish runs.
“This is important for inte-
rior Columbia River steel-
head,” Kendall said. “They are
experiencing the same ocean
as Lower Columbia River
steelhead, certainly.”
The publication comes at a
time when fisheries managers
across the Columbia Basin are
projecting the lowest steelhead
returns in 37 years. Accord-
ing to data, just 4,075 steel-
head have passed Bonneville
Dam since July 1, compared
to 16,996 at the same time last
year. The five-year average to
date is 19,272.
Fisheries managers in Ore-
gon and Washington state have
approved steelhead restrictions
on the Columbia River, clos-
ing steelhead retention below
Idaho Department of Fish and Game
The Dalles Dam for the entire
month of August. Steelhead
retention is closed between
The Dalles and John Day dams
during the month of Septem-
ber, and from John Day Dam to
the Oregon-Washington border
during October and November.
Juvenile steelhead already
face an arduous journey
migrating from the upper
Columbia and lower Snake
rivers. Once they finally reach
the ocean, Kendall said condi-
tions right away play a signif-
icant role in determining total
marine survival.
The study was launched
in 2013 as part of the Salish
Sea Marine Survival Project,
a collaboration of both U.S.
and Canadian scientists. Ken-
dall said the team analyzed
35 coastal steelhead runs dat-
ing back to the late 1970s, pri-
marily from Puget Sound and
Lower Columbia River.
“From our research, it’s
conditions in the early ocean
life of steelhead, shortly after
they hit saltwater, that influ-
ence their total marine sur-
vival,” Kendall said. “They
all go to the same place in the
ocean. That doesn’t seem to
matter.”
In particular, Kendall said
harbor seals, harbor porpoises
and birds seem to be preying
more on juvenile steelhead due
to a reduction in populations of
forage fish, like herring, ancho-
vies and eulachon.
Every year since the project
began, Kendall said research-
ers have released between 100-
200 tagged steelhead smolts
into the Green and Nisqually
rivers — which flow into
Washington’s Puget Sound —
to measure predation by seals.
One year, just 6 percent of the
tagged fish made it out of the
Sound. Another year, the total
was 40 percent, which just so
happened to coincide with a
huge anchovy boom.
“I think this research look-
ing at predation is going to
be important,” she said. “The
same predation is taking place
down in the Columbia River
on both juveniles and adult
(fish).”
Other parts of the study
focus on migrating fish that
have been infected by nano-
phyetus, a parasite that bur-
rows into juvenile salmon and
steelhead and attacks their
muscle tissue.
Kendall said nanophyetus
has been documented much
more heavily in the south-
ern Puget Sound, though there
is concern that the parasite
could spread as waters con-
tinue to warm. During the 2015
drought, Kendall said the team
documented nearly 100 per-
cent of steelhead with nano-
phyetus in the Nisqually River.
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