Sacramento River Salmon Counts Down Again. Way Down…
By Tom Chandler on Sep 20, 2007 in Environment
From Denis Peirce of The Union:
The most reliable count for salmon in our valley rivers is the fish ladder at Red Bluff. During the irrigation season the gates of the Red Bluff Diversion dam are lowered to divert water into farm irrigation system. In most years, this lasts from May 15 to Sept. 15.
This past weekend, the gates were raised and the fish counting ended for the year. The bad news: The final count came in at 6,882 for 2007. This compares to 8,595 for 2006. The 2006 numbers were poor and 2007 is lower yet.
Those numbers don’t exactly inspire confidence, if you catch my drift. The rest of his article is largely a fishing report, but you can read it here: Denis Peirce: Where are the salmon? - TheUnion.com
Technorati Tags: salmon, sacramento river salmon counts, salmon recovery
Alex | Sep 20, 2007 | Reply
What’s the problem? Is it bad reproduction or predators?
Kevin | Sep 21, 2007 | Reply
We’re having similar concerns down here on the American, though they still have a few weeks till they generally show. I’m told that warm water temps at the Golden Gate are driving them to the Klamath and such, but that doesn’t add up in my limited understanding of salmon. I was always under the impression that they return to their home river, no matter what.
Tom Chandler | Sep 22, 2007 | Reply
Perhaps someone will offer an informed opinion, but until then, I’m substituting a blind emotional response.
I don’t think warm water is diverting fish (it might hold them for a short time). I think we’re seeing the double whammy of spawning habitat loss and a weak ocean food chain — something Mark at Blogfish has commented on extensively.
Dr. John Baldwin | Oct 5, 2007 | Reply
I am a long-time, avid salmon fisherman on the Old River. I fish out of Vieira’s, driving down from Twain Harte. We have noticed the difficulty in catching salmon for about four years…and I believe a multitude of factors are at work, not just one. Spawning ground gravel areas are degraded, factory ships at sea take the entire food chain, spawning rivers are full of barges, huge container ships, oil and pollutants, giant pumps gobble up fry trying to return to ocean are leading causes of demise. I would appreciate comments on these two thoughts: 1.are years of relative drought detrimental to salmon counts? 2.Comment on the fish counts at Red Bluff…I note peak counts around 9-11, but counting STOPS on 9-15, so we DON’T know what happens after that! We are flying blind as to runs after September 15….take a look at the graphs on salmon runs Sacramento River (google).
This year, with pathetic catches, as was 06, people are saying, “They are late this year”…but I ask, “Are they late, or have they already gone by in August and September..and in smaller numbers.”
Funny thing…natives of the Delta, really good fishermen and resort owners ALL are flying blind and have “theories” but it seems that no one has FACTS. Comment please. John Baldwin Twain Harte
Tom Chandler | Oct 5, 2007 | Reply
Dr. John; I can’t answer your questions except to direct you to my prior comment. I think runs are down because the oceans are in trouble and for the reasons you mentioned.
In other words, we’re all looking for one specific factor to “fix” but the truth is we’re probably looking at a whole raft of reasons why the salmon returns are so damned low.
Still, that’s no reason to ignore the things we can fix (spawning habitat, modifying flows to favor salmon, eliminating barriers to migration (especially those that encourage predation), etc.
Ed Peuker | Oct 14, 2007 | Reply
II am from a family with lots of experience with salmon in the Freeport area. I also grew up in the Fresno area, where the mighty San Joaquin River is but a shadow of its once great fishery. When I moved to Sacramento in the early 80’s I was surprised that the northern end of the deltas supply still had a healthy supply of salmon. I was dismayed though at the abuses I witnessed. Heck, I quit fishing for Catfish in the sac river because of the growths and weird skin conditions I attributed to pollutions and farming chemicals that were abundant in this river. During those early years the salmon were abundant, the fishermen would take a days limit and go back and do it again the next day. Often the “in possession” limit was over looked… lots of fish were out there to be had… however each year it was just a tad harder to be rewarded with the days take. Three seasons ago, we fished hard for two weeks and took one or two fish, last season we didn’t even try. All the reports seemed to be that unbelievable larger numbers of fish outside of the golden gate, but they never got here. This year, the count at the golden gate seems way low so with all of the years of abuse should we be surprised that the salmon are scarce? No, I just hope that we have not pushed them to the brink of destruction. Remember as a boy I never saw salmon in the Fresno areas San Joaquin River. I am afraid that my grand children will say the same about the salmon in the Sacramento… Shamefully I think we all are to blame, farmers, industry, fishermen, cities, and more…