Sockeye swim to record run

By Mike Maltais
    The smallest of the Columbia River salmon, once on the brink of extinction, is returning in numbers that are shattering all previous run records.
    Based on counts released so far this month the number of sockeye – or blue backs as they are also called – expected to navigate the Columbia system this season may top 400,000 fish. The previous high was set in 1947 when more than 335,000 were counted passing over Bonneville Dam in the Columbia Gorge. The 10-year average compiled since 1938 has been just under 88,000 returns. As of press time the count over Wells Dam was 239,398 sockeye. That was on July 17. Officials have advised that they are running about a week behind with counters working seven days a week and overtime trying to tally the enormous number of fish.
    A conjunction of improved management practices and natural events have contributed to the bounty of sockeye. They range from more cooperation among water resource managers in the Columbia’s Canadian headwaters and higher smolt production in British Columbia’s Osoyoos Lake to increased water spills over river dams and a Pacific Ocean environment that nurtures juvenile sockeye.
    Joe Peone, Director of Fish and Wildlife for the Colville Confederated Tribes, said much has improved with water flow management to the North. “Years ago, they didn’t pay much attention to how much water was released or at what time,” Peone said of the Canadian utilities, “and the excess water did a lot of damage to the redds (salmon spawning beds). Then Douglas County PUD stepped in to help advise on water release practices and conditions began to improve.”
    Peone said that for the past 12 years the PUDs from Chelan, Douglas and Grant counties have contributed funds toward sockeye egg harvesting efforts in Canadian waters for rearing and later release in the Okanagan River. Those hatchery-reared fish are released back into the river in May to supplement the natural stock. Biologists monitor the young fish noting their size and health and to make sure the population is not exceeding the nutrient capacity of the water. A typical year might find between one and two million smolts entering the system. “This year, there are eight million,” said Peone, “and they are as large and healthy as in prior years.”
    As cooperative programs continue to make improvements in habitat and spawning access, sockeye numbers should increase even more. ‘In five to ten years we expect to see 400,000 to 500,000 fish returning,” Peone predicted.
    Biologists also point to a recent court-ordered increase of water spills over dams during spring runoff when smolts are migrating downstream as a major reason the last several years have produced bumper crops of fish.
    Research scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration have their own assessment. They credit improved conditions in the Pacific Ocean for the high survival rate of returning adult salmon. Dr. Ed Casillas, program manager for the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle said Tuesday that their ocean surveys consider a number of factors that affect sockeye survival. In addition to actual numbers of juveniles in a sample, “we look at the amount and type of food available, temperature ranges, salinity profile, absence of predators and presence of forage fish that act a buffers for young salmon,” Casillas said. “We also monitor atmospheric conditions that influence cold waters coming in from the coast of Alaska and warmer El Nino waters from the south.” NOAA has conducted studies in the ocean waters between Oregon and Canada over a decade. Their samplings from two to three years ago, when the current run of sockeye were saltwater juveniles, god conditions for young fish. A similar sampling taken earlier this year forecasts another good run two-to four years down the road.
    The majority of these fish are destined for the Okanogan River. They stack at the river’s broad mouth waiting for the Okanogan’s higher water temperature to cool before entering the channel. “We have that temperature barrier down to a pretty fine science,” said Jerry Marco, anadromous fish manager for the Colville Confederated Tribes at Inchelium, speaking of the trigger that gets the fish moving. “The sockeye don’t like water above 70 degrees – about 21.11 Celsius - but when it cools to around 21 to 20 Celsius they can move out quickly.”
    The sockeye season is open until Aug. 31 from Wells Dam to the Highway 173 bridge in Brewster; until Sept. 15 on the Okanogan River from the Highway 97 bridge immediately upstream of the mouth to the Highway 97 bridge crossing at Oroville; and until Oct. 15 from the Highway 173 bridge in Brewster to the Highway 17 bridge in Bridgeport and on the Okanogan River from the mouth to the Highway 97 bridge immediately upstream of the mouth. Be sure to always check the regulations carefully at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations for any updates or changes.

Photo from the MV News archives