Northwest Spring Chinook Run Dismal So Far

ENVIRONMENT 

By Anna King

Richland, WA  April 4, 2008 4:26 p.m.

Northwest salmon experts are perplexed. Only about 300 spring salmon have passed over the Columbia's Bonneville Dam so far, when fish managers expected thousands by now. The Columbia River run is one of the most important fisheries for tribes and yields some of the highest priced fish around. Richland Correspondent Anna King explains.

Despite millions spent on research. Despite all we know … some things about Northwest salmon are still a mystery. Stuart Ellis is a Columbia River tribal fish biologist. He says scientists don’t really know where spring Chinook go during their life in the ocean. And Ellis and other experts can only speculate why the salmon are late.

ELLIS: We’re cautiously optimistic that this run will still materialize to a pretty good run. But everybody’s kind of anxiously waiting at this point.

About 269,000 fish are expected this year. And Ellis says good catches by sportsman below Bonneville suggest the fish might just be hanging out. Wintery weather and a lack of spring flooding may be holding up the fish. Fish managers will adjust allowed catch rates if this year’s run turns out to be unusually small.



   

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