OUTDOORS & REC
2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2020
Sockeye salmon return to Idaho disappoints biologists
By Keith Ridler
Associated Press
BOISE — A meager return
of sockeye salmon to central
Idaho this year despite high
hopes and a new fi sh hatch-
ery intended to help save the
species from extinction has
fi sheries managers trying to
fi gure out what went wrong.
The Idaho Department
of Fish and Game plans to
form a working group to
understand why only 27 of
660,000 juvenile fi sh raised
in the hatchery and released
in central Idaho in 2018
survived the two-year, 1,800-
mile roundtrip to the ocean
and back to return as adults.
Fisheries managers expected
about 800.
The working group will
“look at possible mechanisms
that could have contributed to
the poor survival,” said John
Powell of Fish and Game.
Powell said the young fi sh
showed good survival rates as
they swam down the Salmon
River to the Snake River to
the Columbia River and to
the ocean.
Things looked good for the
return trip as well.
“We do know that environ-
mental conditions were favor-
able while the (adult) sockeye
were migrating back from the
ocean,” he said.
That would appear to indi-
cate, he said, that signifi cant
Steve Ringman / Seattle Times-TNS, FIle Photo
A Snake River sockeye is captured in Stanley, Idaho, for its genes after swimming
more than 900 miles to reach its spawning grounds.
losses occurred in either the
Columbia River estuary or
the Pacifi c Ocean.
Powell said adults that did
return to Idaho tended to be
smaller this year, an indica-
tion that ocean conditions
might not have been favor-
able.
On a more positive note,
125 sockeye produced in
Redfi sh and Pettit lakes by
spawning adults and reared
in the wild returned this year.
Offi cials estimate the number
of those juvenile fi sh, called
natural-origin fi sh, leaving
the two lakes in 2018 to be
about 30,000. Sockeye salmon
typically spend 2 years in the
ocean.
Powell said natural-origin
fi sh survive at greater rates
than hatchery-origin fi sh. But
hatchery fi sh surviving at a
rate 30 times below natural-
origin fi sh is much worse
than typical.
An estimated 150,000 sock-
eye at one time returned an-
nually to central Idaho, and
Redfi sh Lake, near the small
town of Stanley, was named
for the abundant red-colored
salmon that spawned there.
Federal offi cials say the run
declined starting in the early
1900s due to overfi shing, ir-
rigation diversions, dams and
poisoning, eventually teeter-
ing on the brink of extinction
in the early 1990s. The fi sh
were listed as endangered
under the Endangered Spe-
cies Act in 1991.
An elaborate hatchery
program that tracks the ge-
netics of individual fi sh was
started in the 1990s to save
the species, including raising
brood stock that never enter
the wild and help produce
future generations. Those fi sh
are raised at the Eagle Fish
Hatchery in southwestern
Idaho and at another hatch-
ery at NOAA Fisheries’ Man-
chester Research Station in
Port Orchard, Washington.
The dual system is intended
to prevent the loss of the spe-
cies if a catastrophe occurs at
one of the hatcheries.
Offi cials most recently
started using a new hatch-
ery in southeastern Idaho,
the $13.5-million Spring-
fi eld Fish Hatchery, to
raise sockeye salmon for
release in central Idaho.
That hatchery is intended
to eventually increase the
number of young sockeye re-
leased into the wild to more
than a million.
For the fi rst time in 2017,
all the young fi sh released
came from that hatchery.
But only 16% survived the
trip from central Idaho
to Lower Granite Dam in
western Washington. Many
of the fi sh died not long
after being released into
Redfi sh Lake Creek.
Biologists determined
the young fi sh died because
they couldn’t acclimate to
the hard water in the creek
after being raised in the
soft water at the Springfi eld
Fish Hatchery.
So, in spring 2018 and
2019, biologists fi rst let
the young fi sh acclimate at
the Sawtooth Fish Hatch-
ery near Stanley that has
medium-hard water.
It appeared to work as a
good number of the 2018
fi sh successfully headed
downstream, raising hopes
of a good return this year.
That was dashed when only
27 adult fi sh came back.
Of the 125 natural-origin
fi sh that did make it back
this year, genetic sampling
showed that 38 came from
Pettit Lake and 87 from
Redfi sh Lake. One of the
Pettit Lake fi sh died in
captivity, and the remaining
37 were released into Pettit
Lake to spawn naturally.
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chairs will be available to ensure guests
can keep a proper distance.
Continued from Page 1B
The cafe will be open — with a stream-
In a letter posted on the resort’s web-
lined menu — but Anthony Lakes is
site, Johnson wrote: “We will not be com- asking guests to limit their time inside
pletely cutting back on ticket sales, just
the lodge to 30 to 45 minutes to ensure
reducing the amount of day tickets sold
everyone has a chance to warm up and
each day to the point where we can man- fuel up, Judy said.
age day-to-day operations while comfort-
In his letter, Johnson wrote: “Of course,
ably practicing social distancing,” Johnson our staff will be available to guests with
wrote. “The number of day tickets avail-
families if additional time is needed, but
able for any given day will be based solely we request that each of our guests respect
on previous years ticket sales.”
each other by ensuring people who need
The effects of the pandemic will be
a place to sit down and warm up for a bit
more noticeable inside the lodge. About
have it.”
half the usual complement of tables and
Visitors will be required to wear a face
mask at all times at the resort except
while eating or drinking. That includes
skiers and boarders wearing a helmet
with a visor.
“From the moment you pull into the
Anthony Lakes parking lot to when you
leave, we are asking (and requiring) face
coverings of some sort,” Johnson wrote on
the resort’s website.
Johnson said he is coordinating the re-
sort’s COVID-19 protocols with the Union
County Health Department, as the lodge
is in Union County.
Updated snow conditions, schedules
and events are available at wwwantho-
nylakes.com.
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