This week, roughly 500,000 young salmon were released into the Klamath River, with most of them headed straight for the Pacific Ocean until migratory patterns bring them back for spawning season.
Tuesday saw the release of about 90,000 coho salmon – a threatened species – which reside in rivers for around a year before migrating, precipitating Wednesday’s 400,000 Chinook salmon, which go straight to the ocean. In May, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will introduce another 1.75 million Chinook salmon smolts to the river.
“We are more optimistic about these fish than we have been in many, many years. The river conditions this week were absolutely ideal, cold, clear water, high dissolved oxygen, low turbidity even with the spring … so conditions are great,” Peter Tira, a spokesperson with CDFW, said.
CDFW biologists are hopeful about the fish, introduced near the former Iron Gate dam site, and their ability to survive in the river because, for the first time in over a century, they will not contend with the warmer water created by dams. Previous years saw massive fish kills and significantly hampered populations, to the point where the Yurok Tribe’s annual salmon festival had no salmon. Salmon numbers were so low that, for the second year in a row, commercial and recreational ocean salmon fishing season was canceled by the Pacific Fishery Management Council. U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman called for federal emergency funding to help stimy the economic damage.
When the Chinook salmon return to spawn and die after two to four years at sea, their carcasses provide significant nutrients to the river’s ecosystem including plant life, insects, turkey vultures and other fish. During the fish release, tribal representatives lauded the initiative for bolstering salmon and river health.
“These baby fish represent hope,” said Yurok Tribal Council Member Phillip Williams in a release. “The Klamath was mistreated for more than a century, but now the river is healing and so are we. Through dam removal, habitat restoration and hatchery augmentation, we are building a brighter future for the next generations.”
The fish came from the Fall Creek Fish Hatchery in Siskiyou County seven miles away from the Klamath River.
Not all CDFW fish releases went smoothly: earlier this year, they released about 830,000 into the river, only for many to die shortly after in a suspected fatal pressure change called “gas bubble disease.”
The dams are expected to be fully deconstructed this year.
“This is the largest dam removal in American history, so we don’t know 100% how it’s all going to play out exactly, even though there’s been you know, decades of studies and things like that,” Tira said. “But I know there’s a lot of optimism and hope in river conditions, fish are great right now, so we’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing so far.”
Jackson Guilfoil can be reached at 707-441-0506.
