Idaho Salmon and Steelhead Returns Collapsing
The spring Chinook fishing season is set. On March 13th, the Idaho Fish & Game Commission approved a two-day-a-week season on the Clearwater and a four-day-a-week season on the Salmon beginning April 22nd. There will be no season on the Upper Snake.
32,000 chinook are projected to make their way through Lower Granite dam (LGD), the last in their long journey. The 10-year average for LGD passage is 75,000 hatchery and wild fish. The recovery goal of wild chinook alone is 80,000/year. Is this what recovery looks like?
9,400 adults are predicted to travel up the Clearwater, and 8,700 up the Salmon. Just 123 adults are projected to reach the Upper Snake.
The harvest share for sport fishing is 470 hatchery fish on the Clearwater and 1,430 on the Salmon. The remainder of the forecasted returns are divvied up to rivers without seasons. That is less than 2,000 fish for Idaho.
A fall Chinook hen on the Clearwater.
These are only predictions, but I am not optimistic real returns will exceed the projections. Last year, predictions crested 66,000 spring Chinook, but we only saw 39,000 return (that’s only 59% of the earlier prediction). If we see a 59% return of the projections this year, only 18,880 chinook may return to Idaho. As in, if the predictions are off like they were last year, there may not be a single Idaho chinook fishing season.
In late 2018 politicians were up in arms when environmentalists almost temporarily shut down the winter steelhead season. IWF predicted those same “leaders” would fall silent in 2019 when returns would hardly justify a season (but the blame would be on their own inaction). Now that time has come, so, where are they?
Now that there is no lawsuit threat and agencies have their paperwork in order, maybe now we see how far the circular firing squad gets us while the real problem goes unaddressed. Our heritage, our fish, and our fish communities are seriously threatened. We need real solutions with everyone at the table.
Idaho Wildlife Federation is working to mobilize river communities to demand change from our leaders. We have been traveling up and down the Salmon and Clearwater drainages to meet with local businesses, outfitters and guides, chambers of commerce, mayors, and anyone we can stand alongside to demand that Idaho’s leaders accept the fact that something is wrong, and that recovery efforts have completely failed Idahoans.
Historically, wildlife crises have mobilized American sportsmen to lead and demand drastic change to policy. It’s hard to realize when we are experiencing such a moment in real time, but I think we are experiencing one now with Idaho salmon and steelhead.
As sportsmen and women, as historic leaders for positive change, our decision makers need to hear our collective voice- that they need to get up and work on something that matters for Idaho’s economy and fish. They have the power to lead, but they won’t do it without the voice of sportsmen. Save our salmon. Save our river communities.
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