2019 Idaho Chinook Projections Nosedive Alarmingly

If you’ve never asked your legislators to do something about salmon and steelhead, now would be the time.

90,000 wild fish is the annual goal for spring/summer chinook returns to Idaho. Fish biologists project a mere 9% of that will come back to Idaho in 2019. Hatchery returns are grim too.

Consider in 2018 only 60% of the projected 107,400 hatchery and wild fish actually made it back to Idaho. So chances are that 9% projection could shrink.

9,800 hatchery fish are projected to return to the Clearwater River. IDFG needs 5,000 of them for the Clearwater hatchery stock. That means chinook fishing will be abysmal in North Idaho. If 2018 repeats itself and only 60% of the projections return, that means there won’t be a Clearwater chinook season.

Here is another kicker: spring/summer chinook projections are a reliable indicator of the coming steelhead runs, meaning the steelhead season may shutdown too.

Remember this last fall when politicians jumped into action when an intended lawsuit almost shutdown the steelhead season? Sure, they had a good boogie-man to blame, but there was no mention of the larger issue of plummeting fish numbers over the course of time. Where were they when the season actually closed in 2017 due to low returns? Their communities, and outfitters and guides, have been suffering for years.

The coming year will deal a major blow to our fishing communities. Politicians wont have any missing pieces of paper to blame for the sting of lost fishing revenue for their towns. 2019 will provide Idahoans crystal clear lenses to see whether our elected officials’ concern for salmon and steelhead is legitimate, or if it is reserved only for election years.

You can help motivate them to take up the mantle and demand a change from the failed fish recovery efforts.