Fall Chinook salmon have returned
to spawn on the lower Scott and Shasta Rivers. (Coho arrive later in the year and are not
allowed to be fished.) According to a report given last week at the Klamath River Basin
Fisheries Task Force (KRBFTF) meeting in Klamath Falls, 1,500 fish have been counted at
the Shasta video weir, which is better than the same time last year, but not as good as
the year prior. Bogus Creek has had similar results. So far, Iron Gate hatchery is about
where it was last year. The hatchery has already taken its quota of 8,000 eggs, but will
continue to take more because this year’s fish have been small and their eggs have
not been ripe. 100 live fish have been counted in the Scott River canyon. Rain is needed
to bring the run up into the valley. This year, the spring Chinook run in the Salmon River
was disastrous at about 90 fish. Last year’s count was 439 and the year prior was
1,300.
Ocean fishing for Klamath Chinook was severely curtailed this year
because of last year’s depressed run and concerns that the population trend was in
decline. This year, the Yurok tribe limited its catch to two days a week and only eight
hours during the day to conserve fish runs. As confirmed by creel counts, in-river sports
fisheries have already met quotas on all but the Lower Trinity.
The federal Klamath River Basin Fisheries Task Force (KRBFTF) was
established as an advisory board to the Secretary of the Department of Interior by the
Klamath Act in 1986 as a 20 year plan to “restore anadromous fisheries of the Klamath
River basin.” Congressed authorized a total of $21 million, or $1 million annually
over 20 years, to implement the program. (For comparison, the Trinity River got $11.3
million just for this year.) The Act is now winding down into its final year and the board
is working on its accomplishments report through the end of fiscal year 2005.
So far, the KRBFTF has received only $16,182,197 of the $21 million
authorized. $2,324,204 or 14% of this has been spent on support of the federal committees.
$2,432,286 or 15% has been spent on program administration. $1,723,805 or 11% has been
spent on actual project management. $9,701,922 or 60% has been spent on what is termed
“projects.”
According to a draft “accomplishments” report being
reviewed by the Task Force, only $1,671,542 or 10% of the whole was actually spent on
on-the-ground habitat restoration projects. $1,270,416 or 8% was spent on small tribal
hatchery rearing ponds. $202,610 or 1% was spent on education. $1,6338,863 or 10% was
spent on coordination and planning (watershed councils.)
A whopping $3,101,057 or 19% was spent on “assessment,
monitoring and research.” Some of this has do to with a shift by the agencies from
their own budgets to the Task Force as a cash cow to cover the expense of counting fish.
These numbers are plugged into the computerized “megatable,” that supports
population projections of fall Chinook. The projections are used by the Klamath Fishery
Management Council to make fishing allocations among the commercial fishermen, tribes and
inland sports fishermen. The figures also are helpful to the watershed councils in
measuring the effectiveness of restoration efforts. However, the costs seem to have
overwhelmed the scarce money available for actual habitat improvement projects.
In total, the Scott River watershed received only $1,029,897 or 6% of
Klamath Act Funds. $421,054 or 41% of this
went to habitat restoration; $216,644 went to
assessment, monitoring and research; $345,583 went to coordination and planning; and
$46,616 to education. In total, the Shasta River watershed received $1,165,131 or 7% of
Klamath Act Funds. $482,328 or 41% of this went to habitat restoration; $281,373 went to
assessment, monitoring and research; and $401,380 went to coordination and planning. The Salmon
River received $865,791 total. Of this, $369,541 went to coordination and planning;
$328,124 went to assessment, monitoring and research; $86,025 to education; and $82,100 or
9% went to habitat restoration projects.
It is also interesting to note that the lower Klamath sub-basin
received $509,743 for habitat restoration projects and the mid-Klamath received $176.267
for habitat projects. (All figures do not include leveraged funds or in-kind
contributions.)
The Technical Working Group of the KRBFTF has been tasked with
looking at population trends of various fisheries during the same period. I am hopeful
that the Task Force will take a look at the success of their funding allocation strategies
over the years in accomplishing their goal of restoring anadromous fisheries. I cannot
help but feel that if they had actually received the money promised by Congress and had
they been able to spend more money toward on the ground projects, that fish populations
may have benefited.
|
