NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
Record low numbers of steelhead returning to Columbia River
Just 29,000 steelhead
pass Bonneville Dam
since July 1
By BRADLEY W. PARKS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
PORTLAND — Columbia River
steelhead are in hot water.
The number of steelhead return-
ing from the Pacific Ocean to the
river this year is the lowest ever
recorded. As of last week, just
more than 29,000 steelhead passed
Bonneville Dam since July 1 —
that’s less than half the average of
the past five years.
The low number has led a coali-
tion of conservation and fishing
organizations to call for a shutdown
of all recreational steelhead fishing
in the Columbia Basin for the fall
season.
“This is a really, really dire year
for steelhead — especially wild
steelhead — in the Columbia River
Basin,” said Rob Kirschner, legal
and policy director for the Conser-
vation Angler, which advocates for
protection and restoration of wild
fish in the Pacific Northwest and
Kamchatka, Russia.
The coalition sent a letter to the
Oregon, Washington and Idaho
agencies that manage fish and
wildlife requesting an immediate
closure of recreational steelhead
fisheries on the Columbia River,
the Lower Snake River and their
tributaries.
“The status of these individ-
ual populations are so low that we
are trying to protect every eligible
Steve Hanks/Lewiston Tribune, File
A group of steelhead fishermen has the Clearwater River to themselves on Feb. 4, 2014. Record low numbers of steelhead are returning to the Columbia
River in 2021, prompting conservationists and anglers alike to call for a halt to recreational fishing for the sea-run fish.
spawner,” Kirschner said. “Every
one of these fish counts.”
Steelhead trout on the Columbia
and Snake rivers are listed as threat-
ened under the Endangered Species
Act. After hatching in freshwa-
ter rivers and streams, steelhead
migrate to the ocean and return to
freshwater to spawn.
The construction of hydro-
electric dams on the Columbia
and Snake rivers, overfishing and
climate change have contributed to
steelhead population declines.
This year, as much of the North-
west has faced excessive heat and
relentless drought, high water
temperatures on the Columbia and
Snake rivers have been detrimental
to steelhead runs.
Commissioners and staff with
the Oregon and Washington depart-
ments of fish and wildlife met virtu-
ally Friday, Aug. 27, to discuss
options for limiting damage. Most
fisheries on the Columbia require
fishermen to release any steelhead
they catch this fall.
“There just aren’t many more
places to get significant savings,”
said Ryan Lothrop, Washington’s
Columbia River fishery manager.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
| Go to AccuWeather.com
TODAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
Pleasant with
plenty of sun
Nice with plenty
of sun
Pleasant with
plenty of sunshine
Sunny and
pleasant
73° 45°
Stores report uptick in interest
78° 50°
BY EMRY DINMAN
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
83° 60°
82° 56°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
75° 45°
77° 45°
82° 47°
88° 60°
86° 51°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
64/50
67/41
74/43
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
73/48
Lewiston
68/50
77/48
Astoria
65/50
Pullman
Yakima 73/42
67/45
75/49
Portland
Hermiston
71/51
The Dalles 75/45
Salem
Corvallis
70/46
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
70/40
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
75/46
71/40
76/40
Ontario
84/49
Caldwell
Burns
83°
57°
87°
53°
102° (2007) 39° (1965)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
70/47
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
83/48
0.00"
Trace
0.16"
1.93"
1.66"
5.30"
WINDS (in mph)
80/47
78/34
0.00"
0.01"
0.33"
4.37"
8.68"
8.64"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 68/36
74/48
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
71/44
75/50
81°
57°
85°
55°
103° (1967) 37° (1924)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
67/45
Aberdeen
68/44
71/50
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
67/50
Today
Wed.
WSW 7-14
W 8-16
WNW 3-6
WNW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
78/37
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:15 a.m.
7:35 p.m.
none
3:53 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Sep 6
Sep 13
Sep 20
Sep 28
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 111° in El Centro, Calif. Low 23° in Daniel, Wyo.
sit a season out is reasonable and
necessary considering the circum-
stances.”
Signatories included represen-
tatives from the Native Fish Soci-
ety, Friends of the Clearwater, Wild
Fish Conservancy, North Umpqua
Foundation and Fly Fishers Inter-
national in addition to the Conser-
vation Angler.
Commissioners with the Oregon
and Washington department of fish
and wildlife made no decisions or
recommendations for recreational
steelhead fisheries at the Aug. 27
meeting, but may do so soon.
Officials warn against horse
dewormer for COVID-19
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
71° 44°
The groups that wrote the letter
to commissioners say that’s not
true. They say closing recreational
steelhead fisheries altogether for the
fall could prevent unnecessary fish
deaths — and that fishermen stand
to benefit.
“[W]e simply do not believe
that fishing for ESA-listed steel-
head during their worst return
on record is appropriate for these
fish or future generations of fish-
ermen,” the letter reads. “For a
species that has provided gener-
ations with memorable fishing
experiences, asking fishermen to
WALLA WALLA — “You are not a horse.
You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
This was the warning issued by the U.S.
Federal Drug Administration on Saturday,
Aug. 21, after a spike in reports that Amer-
icans are using ivermectin, an anti-parasitic
drug commonly used to deworm horses and
cows, in a misguided attempt to treat COVID-
19.
“The FDA has received multiple reports of
patients who have required medical support
and been hospitalized after self-medicating
with ivermectin intended for horses,” the
federal agency wrote in a consumer report
last week.
Walla Walla Valley businesses on both
sides of the Washington-Oregon border have
reported that residents here also are buying
the oral formulation — there are injectable
and pour-on forms as well — of the deworm-
ing drug for off-label purposes.
Overhanging shelves stocked with the
anti-parasitic drug in Walla Walla’s Tractor
Supply Company is a sign warning custom-
ers against using the drug to treat COVID-19.
“We have had people call asking for us to
give dosage amounts for nonanimals,” said a
worker at Milton-Freewater Ranch and Home
who asked not to be named. “Basically so they
could use it on themselves.”
Businesses could face legal liability if they
knowingly provided ivermectin to a customer
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
who intended to use it on themselves, the
worker said.
Other businesses stated that, while they
wouldn’t advise anyone on how to use the
dewormer on themselves, they couldn’t stop
customers from purchasing the drug.
“I think it’s stupid they’re doing
that,” said the owner of Bordertown in
Milton-Freewater, who also declined to be
named for this story. “But that’s their deal,
not mine.”
Interest in the off-label use of ivermec-
tin has resulted in a spike of calls to poison
control centers throughout the country.
In 2020, the Washington Poison Center
received around nine calls for ivermectin,
said Dr. Scott Phillips, medical director for
the WAPC. So far in 2021, the agency has
received 26 calls, nearly three times as many,
including 10 just in August.
Phillips is quick to note that, while the
increase in calls is sizable, the overall call
volume still is very low. Of the calls the
agency has received regarding ivermectin,
around one-third were simply calls for drug
information, not reporting a poisoning.
“We really haven’t had any life-threaten-
ing reactions yet, but that doesn’t mean that
you can’t,” Phillips said.
Ivermectin is not an anti-viral drug,
according to the FDA, and oral tablets only
are approved for human use at very specific
doses for some parasitic worms. Taking a
large dose of the drug can cause serious harm,
the FDA warns, and veterinary formulations
of ivermectin are very different from the
drugs prescribed to human patients.
IN BRIEF
More children hospitalized
in Oregon with COVID-19
SALEM — Oregon health officials have
seen an increase in children with COVID-19
cases severe enough to require hospitaliza-
tion and said it mirrors a national trend. State
health officials said nine babies, toddlers or
preschoolers were hospitalized in Oregon last
week according to the state, plus one child
aged 6 to 11 and one child aged 12 to 17.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state epidemi-
ologist who trained in pediatrics, said in a
statement “it’s especially disheartening when
there is a sharp rise in serious cases among the
youngest people in our community.”
He urged everyone who can get vaccinated
to do so and asked Oregonians to wear masks,
to help protect those who cannot get the shot
including young children.
“New hospital admission rates for kids
due to COVID-19 in the U.S. have reached
the highest levels since tracking pediatric
cases started about a year ago,” Sidelinger
said. “The delta variant is more contagious
than previous variants — and likely is caus-
ing more severe disease in children, as it is in
adults — and is leading to a surge in pediatric
hospitalizations nationwide.”
— EO Media Group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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showers t-storms
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flurries
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