I I I I
Spilyqy Tyrooo, Wqim Springs, Oregon
May 15, 2004
Page 5
Crew has
By D. "Ding" Bingham
Spilyuy Tjmoo
Soon it will be time for Geoff
jFitzGcrald, a fisheries biologist with the
Confederated Tribes Natural Re
sources Department, to watch his step
at work.
He'll walk carefully, and make sure
jhe and his crew never works alone.
They'll be focused on what they're do
ing with the fish, but they'll be listening
, for the familiar buzz of a rattlesnake
', along Shitike Creek.
! Increasing the number of chinook
salmon in Shitike Creek is the name
; of the game. FitzGcrald and his crew
; arc in charge of setting, checking and
maintaining the migratory screw traps
that are used for counting salmon
: smolts headed for the ocean.
; The traps are operated five days a
;weck from March through June. The
; traps will be placed back in the streams
! during the fall to count fish overwin
tering in the Deschutes River.
"We remove all the fish from the
; trap," says FitzGcrald. "We anesthetize
;them and take a length and weight
; measurement on each one."
It's important to anesthetize the fish
before handling them - it reduces stress
and makes it easier for them to sur
; vive when released back into the stream.
"It's very important not to stress the
! fish," he says, "we use a slime coating
', that protects their skin after handling,
and the anesthetic has a buffer, so it
makes it easier on the fish. Plus we keep
oxygen bubblers at all times in the hold
; ing tank."
For bull trout and chinook, the crew
', scrapes a couple of scales off and takes
- a tiny fin clip - about half the size of
the average pinkie fingernail - for a
genetic sample. They take a sample of
genetic material from steelhead to es
tablish age and pedigree.
For rainbow, steelhead and bull
trout, they haul the fish about a mile
upstream and release them once again.
They count the number of marked and
unmarked fish that are recaptured, plug
the' figures in'to'i a ftffrrrulav1 and that
gives 'thehV a r)opulatibfi' estimate. This
happens on Shitike Creek and the
Warm Springs River.
The genetic sampling helps them
identify fish populations, not specific
fish. The fin clip will grow back after
, about two weeks.
Trapping the fish
The rotary screw trap looks like a
: floating cement mixer. The movement
of water pressing against a plastic screw
turns the drum. That steadily forces
water through the drum funnel and into
a live well where the tiny fish wait to
be counted.
There's a debris drum on the down
stream side that removes leaf matter
and sticks. Some of the flotsam sinks
to the bottom, the rest rolls back out
into the stream. The debris drum keeps
Museum seeks objects for collection
The Museum at Warm Springs is
seeking to enhance its permanent
collection by obtaining objects from
Warm - Springs tribal members
through acquisitions.
Objects for consideration must be
accompanied by a completed object
history form.
The forms are available at the
museum.
Objects for consideration must be
I This week only I
Cliffs Repair & Auto Sales Nggg
EF&oad Consftiructtion Blues j fddstar
Was $2,995 Was $4,500
4 nat" 4 Now $2,495 Now $3,995
wifth Discounts you just can't lose
I Effl GSS CGElQ) I 330 S.W. Culver Hwy. Lj:M
Fi73ta C3TITI (7T7Y37I Madras 0R 97741 lass
cla." i 1 1 jjzxxj 475-6618 Now$2495 now$2,495
fish counting down to
I ' (fJ$$ ... hi lkpmh
Iirlri'--r1iilliitr- - i inn i 1 i.W. UMl lllMTIW
hate March is another
dangerous time for the young
fish. Mink and otter are
pronHn stream banks look-
ing for food. When they find
a couple thousand young fish
in a confined area, it looks
pretty good to them.
the live well from getting clogged up
and suffocating the fish.
The rotation of the drum is impor-
tant. If the rotation drops to less than
tour pec minute, tne efficiency ot tne
. 'fish trap is greatly reduced and fish can
swim back out. 1 f the drum stops turn
ing, an adult could enter and find itself
in the middle of a juvenile fish smor
gasbord. Late March is another dangerous
time for the young fish. Mink and ot
ter are prowling stream banks looking
for food. When they find a couple thou
sand young fish in a confined area, it
looks pretty good to them.
Screens over the openings have,
mostly, solved that problem. If that
doesn't work, the crew live-traps the
predator and moves it completely out
of the area.
"Checking traps usually takes up six
to eight hours of our day, depending
on the number of fish," FitzGerald says.
"Tuesday and Wednesday it takes a little
longer because we have to collect scale
relevant to and consistent with the
permanent collection.
The museum policy is one object
per household or family. Objects for
consideration will be accepted on
May 17, 18 and 19, during regular
business hours, no exceptions.
If you have any questions, please
contact Natalie Kirk at 553-3331,
extension 412.
and genetic samples. With our free time,
we check and repair riparian fences and
work at the hatchery when they need
assistance."
Right now adult fish are starting to
move up into their spawning areas.
"It's really important if people are
out in the stream to watch out for
redds," he says. Redds are salmon
spawning beds located in the stream.
lie goes on, "It's difficult to see
redds, because in Shitike Creek it gets
pretty warm, so algae grows over the
rocks cjuickly. You'll be looking for a
small depression and a mound of rocks
riirht behind it."
FitzGerald savs that it's important
for people to prevent any stream block
ages, because if chinook salmon hit a
barrier they can't get around, then they
don't try very hard. Instead they turn
around and leave.
The traps and weirs are deactivated
on weekends.
"This year we've added an underwa
mmm
QjEBZ,
OT)QiTTi iKQfrrlJ tfMtm n ttiXtt)
im rwpnif .siiiiPiiinMuri'.irn rvw
a science
Bmg Bingham photos
Above, Geoff FitzGerald
maneuvers a fish trap on Shitike
Creek; below, a fish is measured
and weighed.
.ISt .'till
ter video camera and we're video tap
ing all fish passage," says FitzGerald.
"Even though we're not collecting a
genetic sample the. fwliy we ; known m
how many adults arc moving up 'into'
the stream." '
But checking weekend videotape
means the fisheries crew will be spend
ing just that much more time on the
streams during the summer. Maybe, it's
not such a tough job after all - when
they're not dodging rattlesnakes,
mm - wsm
No foolin' - The Best Food in
Columbia
spring chinook
below forecasts
PORTLAND (AP) - Spring
chinook salmon returning to the
Columbia River this year are run
ning far below the forecasts, but
still represent a strong return.
Based on counts at Bonneville
Dam, the preseason prediction of
360,700 was revised downward 44
percent on Monday to 200,000
by the Technical Advisory Com
mittee. Five-year-old fish, which make
up 6 percent of the run, were ex
pected to be coming back in re
duced numbers. They migrated to
the ocean in 2001, when drought
and the energy crisis combined to
reduce river flows and the water
spilled over hydroelectric dams to
spare fish being drawn into tur
bines. Nobody, however, knows why
the 4-year-old fish that migrated
out in 2002 - and make up 94
percent of returns - have fallen
so far below the forecast, said
Cindy LeFIeur, Columbia River
policy coordinator for the Wash
ington Department of Fish and
Wildlife. The 200,000 fish still rep
resent the fifth-best run in the past
30 years, noted Curt Melcher, ma
rine salmon manager for the Or
egon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
The reduced run will likely
mean fewer fish than expected for
tribal fishermen, who began a
three-day commercial gillnet sea
son on the Columbia on Tuesday
of last week, said Charles I ludson,
spokesman for the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commis
sion. Any extension of the season
will depend on fish numbers.
Because spring chinook mi
grate out in May, they will not be
affected by the proposal by the
Bonneville Power Administration
to reduce the ampunt of water
Spilled overhauls tQihelp snUiMH)
later thjs summer.'
ilJJCJ
f i
Please, support
the businesses
you see in
the Spilyay Tymoo.
tH7!rm TfcrrJiTlWJ
vmiiwui' 'munvuj'
Town!
r