Draft Southern Oregon Northern California Coastal
(SONCC) Coho Recovery Plan Part 2 of 2: A couple of weeks ago, the Siskiyou County
Board of Supervisors met with several representatives from NMFS (National Marine Fisheries
Services) on the draft Southern Oregon Northern California Coastal ( SONCC) Coho Recovery
Plan. In last week’s column, I wrote about comments and concerns raised by my fellow
Supervisors.
I have worked on salmon issues for more than 20 years. I served on
the Klamath River Fisheries Task Force as a member and on the Technical Working Group. I
am a long-time representative on the 5 County Salmon Restoration Planning Board.
I talked about the influence of the ENSO – El Nino Southern
Oscillation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. (See http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/fgz/science/pdo.php?wfo=fgz
) These short and long term cycles of sea temperature influence ocean habitat and food
supply for salmon. As Dr. Gierak has pointed out, when the cycle moves cool water to the
north, salmon move with it to Alaska. When the long term cycle moves south, we have better
salmon runs locally. It is unfair to blame inland land and water use on the decline of
fish populations when these ocean cycles have such a huge influence on ocean habitat (food
upwelling,) and climate.
Coho populations are always compared with some mythical salmon utopia
with great abundance. The base studies were
actually surveys done by Dr. Peter Moyle. They indicated “presence and absence”
in a river – not actual counts. The study was done for two years when the coho are a
three year cohort – so one year was not accounted for.
Reports always blame irrigators in the Scott River for “dewatering”
the streams in summer. The diaries of the early explorers and the Kidder diaries show that
these rivers are “arroyos” – a dry creek that seasonally fills and flows.
Coho salmon are a cold water species that prefer low gradients, deep
cold pools with overhanging shade. Coho juveniles over-summer, which can be a problem when
a shallow river runs east to west with the sun and summer temperatures peak at more than
100 degrees. That is why they either leave the system or seek refugial areas like French
Creek where niche habitat can be found. It is ridiculous to presume that the whole Scott River
drainage can meet over-summering needs of the coho. We are too far inland on the edge of
the species’ range. Arguing over summer flows when the snow pack is gone and
temperatures in the exposed mainstem Scott River are lethal to fish is absurd.
Area Supervisor Irma Lagomarsino from the Arcata office indicated
that she was feeling “a little protective” about the work that staff had done,
but she saw the Board’s invitation to hear feedback as a positive step. She said that
she was impressed that the Board members knew a lot about salmon. She also heard that we
were “under-impressed” with the plan.
Lagomarsino indicated that the Southwest Fisheries Region had written
the plan. The Santa Cruz Technical Recovery Team wrote two scientific documents: The
historic structure of separate population ESUs (Evolutionary Significant Units); and
viability employing an “intrinsic potential habitat model.” The draft plan had
received “independent peer review.”
The Board had roundly commented on the blatant errors in the model
– showing ephemeral streams that infrequently carried any water as prime potential
spawning and rearing habitat. Lagomarsino admitted that this was not the first time that
the maps had been criticized, indicating that a set of key criteria needed to be set with
field visits so the streams could be “ground-truthed”
for accuracy.
Lagomarsino did admit that the plan had done a “poor job”
of giving credit for all the work that landowners had done. She recognized that fencing
had been done, fish screens installed, migration barriers removed and riparian trees
planted. She recognized the many years that the County had participated in the 5 County
Salmon Restoration Plan and the work that had been done on County culverts, bridges and
roads. She said that she regretted that it feels like they did not acknowledge that.
Recognizing the leadership of the County in trying to get the ARED
Alaska Resource and Economic Development, Inc (Alaska
Resource and Economic Development) Alaska
Resource and Economic Development, Inc Alaska Resource and Economic Development, Inc project
in play on the Shasta River, Lagomarsino offered some promise that NMFS and the CA DFG
(Department of Fish and Game) were looking more favorably on the project. (ARED is a
process were salmon eggs are harvested, incubated in moist air and, once they have reached
the “eyed egg stage,” are injected back into the river gravels.) She credited
the County workshop on genetics as a success in bringing diverse opinions to the table to
support the process.
The NMFS team will likely return in May with additional information.moist
air incubators and eyed-egg injection
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