Page 10
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
December 24, 2014
Good year for salmon, help needed for lamprey
CRITFC reflects
on productive 2014
The year 2014 was a busy
one for the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
and and the member tribes.
The work focused on salmon,
lamprey, river health and
treaty fishing.
The record numbers of
salmon returning to the Co-
lumbia River system was an-
other indicator that the ef-
forts to reverse the salmon
decline are paying off, ben-
efitting the species, the eco-
system, and the Indian fish-
ers and families that depend
on this first food.
Cooperation was a com-
mon theme throughout the
year as the tribes continued
to strengthen partnerships
with federal and state agen-
cies and other organizations.
Many of the actions the
W.S. Food Bank
distributing Tuesdays
The Warm Springs Food
Bank is located at the Pres-
byterian Church.
They are open Sundays
11:30-1:30. The Jefferson
County Food Bank is at 556
SE Seventh Street.
They distribute food on
Tuesday afternoons. All food
banks and pantries do take
donations of non-perishable
food or cash.
Museum winter hours
The Museum at Warm
Springs is open Tuesday
through Saturday from 9 a.m.
until 5 p.m. daily, closed on
Sundays and Mondays.
Serving All the
Reservation
541-615-0555
Go to kwso.org for the
latest Warm Springs news
tribes have advocated de-
cades for can only be accom-
plished by combining re-
sources with other partners.
Climate change
Despite the year’s suc-
cesses, everything isn’t rosy.
The effects of unusual and
shifting weather caused from
climate change are beginning
to be seen throughout the Co-
lumbia River Basin and all
signs point to these effects
only increasing.
No one is sure how great
an impact this will have on
the region and on salmon, but
it is cause for concern for the
tribes, and something that
CRITFC will continue to dedi-
cate time and attention to in
the coming year.
Lamprey
Lamprey continue to
struggle in a hydrosystem that
was not designed for their
needs and their dwindling
numbers are evidence of this.
In the past year, they have
received more attention, and
we hope that this translates
into more action to protect
this ancient fish that is impor-
tant to the tribes and the eco-
system.
“The challenges are not
small, but looking back, I am
proud of what the tribes have
been able to accomplish,” said
CRITFC executive director
Paul Lumley. “I hold out
hope that the same resilience,
strength, traditional knowl-
edge, and determination that
brought us—and the
salmon—back from the brink
of extinction will carry us into
the future, too.
The CRITFC-produced
film The Lost Fish highlighted
the importance of lamprey to
the tribes and the tribal ef-
forts to save them.
The film was selected for
The 2014 salmon
run passed 2.5
million fish...
inclusion in the EcoFilm Fes-
tival in July. The screening
concluded with Nez Perce
elder Elmer Crow being post-
humously awarded the Eco
Hero award for his work on
lamprey advocacy and resto-
ration. The film was screened
at a variety of other locations
throughout the region and has
been very well received.
broken when 67,024 fall
chinook passed. On the very
next day, the record was bro-
ken again when 67,521
passed.
The total chinook run for
the year was 1,152,603 adults
and 187,009 jacks. The sock-
eye run was the largest since
fish counting began at
Bonneville Dam in 1938. A
total of 614,179 fish passed
the dam on their way to
spawn in British Columbia,
north-central Washington, and
Idaho.
Record salmon run
Restoring fish passage
Thanks partly to intense
tribal restoration efforts, the
2014 salmon run passed 2.5
million fish. This number in-
cludes chinook, sockeye,
coho, and steelhead adults
and jacks.
On September 7, the
record for number of fish
passing Bonneville Dam was
CRITFC coordinated the
third Future of Our Salmon
Conference, this one focus-
ing on restoring fish to all their
historical locations, including
past dams that currently of-
fer no fish passage.
A preliminary three-day
technical workshop in Spo-
kane for scientists, biologists,
and other technical specialists
concluded that reintroduction
to blocked areas was possible
given current technology and
engineering capacity.
At the main conference in
Portland, attended by over
300 people, the findings from
the technical workshop were
presented, along with cultural
and tribal leader presentations
and panels of tribal, federal,
and state officials.
Record commercial fish-
ery
The value of this year’s
tribal commercial fishery
value was estimated to exceed
$7 million. The strong fish
run played a role, but the fish-
ers were able to command pre-
mium prices due to the qual-
ity of the fish they are deliv-
ering, which is due to quality
handling techniques that have
become standard practice for
the majority of tribal fishers.