This year’s Chinook salmon
run was a disappointment. At the latest Klamath River Basin Fisheries Task Force meeting,
it was reported the returns to the Klamath were estimated to be 88,777 fish with a 10% early spawner (grilse or
“jack”) component. This was well below the predicted return level of 98,600
fish. Of returning fish, an estimated 24,246 were “natural spawners.” This was
considerably below the 35,000 threshold for returning natural fish (or “escapement”)
established in connection with fishing quotas.
The Shasta River had an estimated chinook run of 833 fish ( 13.4%
grilse;) the Scott had 445 fish (4.7% grisle;) and
the Salmon River had 626 fish (15.3% grilse.) Bogus Creek saw about 3,700 fish compared to
15,000 last year. About 24.6% of these were estimated to be of hatchery origin. It should
also be noted that the grilse portion of the run is often looked upon as an indicator of
the health of next year’s run. (Chinook salmon return to spawn at a variety of ages
from 2 year old grilse to five year-olds.) It was reported that the ocean reaches its
highest cyclical productive phase for salmon next year, so there are hopes for better runs
next year.
In the Scott River, it was observed that the three-year aged old
portion of the run was just about gone. Looking back to 2001 when these fish were
juveniles, there was a serious incidence of disease in the “mainstem” Klamath
River that may have effected the Scott River run.
There is a considerable amount of fish counting that has been done on
Chinook salmon over many years. This is because of the value of the fish to commercial,
sports and tribal interests. A substantial amount of funding is spent on fish counts used
to project the following year’s run for use by the Klamath Fisheries Management
Council in allocating fishing quotas. Chinook also return early in the season when the
rivers are at a level where fish counts can be done.
Up until very recently, information about the federally and State
listed coho salmon has been generally limited to whether the fish were either present or
absent in a stream. As coho spawn later in the season when flows are high, it is more
difficult to get estimated fish counts. When the Department of Fish and Game reviewed coho
documents during the State listing process, they determined that about 1,400 streams had
been sampled. Of these streams, coho were documented to
be present in about 500 of those streams.
Unlike Chinook, Coho return regularly at age three to spawn. This
creates a series of three “brood years.” In any stream, one brood year may be good and another may not have any fish. A
thorough “presence and absence” survey would include a series of several
three-year sets. Unfortunately, historic surveys were incomplete and there is minimal
information in most areas.
Danielle Quigley reported on data received thus far from this last
season’s 58 river mile Scott River coho survey. This survey ran from the confluence
of the East and South Fork of the Scott down to its confluence with the Klamath River. The
survey observed 1,567 live fish, 578 carcasses and 958 “redds” or nests where
the coho had deposited eggs. In the past, the biggest barrier to spawning had been a
disconnect between the tributaries and the Scott River. This year, almost all tributaries
were connected by the first week of December. Coho were able to into the lower reaches of
Shackleford and Patterson Creek, as well as French and Sugar Creek. Unlike the prior two
brood years, indications are that this was a great year for coho. |
