First sockeye salmon of year returns to Redfish Lake Creek

Columbia officials reported that a potentially catastrophic collapse of the sockeye salmon run is unfolding on the Columbia River system this year.

Through July 27, 368 sockeye were counted at Lower Granite Dam.

After sockeye cross Lower Granite Dam, they still have 400 miles to travel in the Snake and Salmon rivers to reach the Sawtooth Basin.

ONA estimated only 5,000 to 15,000 sockeye have entered Osoyoos Lake so far.

Only 18,000 sockeye are expected to return this year to spawning grounds in the rivers and streams in British Columbia’s South Okanagan region. And get this, only 25% of sockeye passing through the Bonneville Dam are making it to Ice Harbor Dam. Waterways in the Columbia River Basin have been clocking in around 70 degrees. He said higher water temperatures and low water levels are stressing the migrating salmon. But this year as many as 80 percent of those fish could die, said Ritchie Graves of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As said by Theresa Scott, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s coordinator, the carcasses of the dead sockeyes have shown signs of serious infection.

June’s record heat combined with an ongoing drought to raise river temperatures more than six degrees, biologists said.

Water managers are trying to help fish migration, by releasing cooler water from reservoirs to chill the water and make it swim-able.

The run in 1991 was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, kicking off a hatchery program that at first had only a handful of returning fish to propagate the species. With consistent trends of increasing temperatures across the nation, many scientists such as Theresa Scott believe this to be the first of many such occurrences that we will see in the near future: “This is a wakeup call and a dress rehearsal for what fishery managers years from now will be dealing with on a regular basis”.