Salmon Update

...Outdoors: Salmon numbers fall, but possible explanations grow
Saturday, March 22, 2008

(03-22) 19:27 PDT -- A SF Chronicle story in 2006 warned of a deteriorating marine food chain off the California coast that has since led to the collapse of salmon stocks.
Environmental Jane Kay wrote, "By now, the offshore waters should be roiling with plankton and the shrimp-like krill, the foundation of the ocean's food chain. Instead, the researchers say, the organisms appear to be in short supply." ("Sea life counts dive for 2nd year - Decrease in essential plankton and krill disrupt food chain," June 23, 2006.)
To explain the lack of marine food production, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer Frank Schwing said, "The upwelling that we normally expect in the springtime hasn't kicked in. We think there might be real consequences for the seabirds, fish and mammals."
This year's salmon season for the Bay Area coast was supposed to open on April 5, but the opener has been postponed and the season is in jeopardy because of a collapse of stocks. Salmon that spawn or are released from hatcheries in the Central Valley are down from 804,401 fish in 2002 to 90,414 in 2007.
"It is pretty clear that poor ocean conditions in 2006 and 2007 are the major factor in the decline in salmon abundance this year (and projected for next year)," said John Carlos Garza of the federal Southwest Fisheries Science Center out of Pacific Grove.
Since coho salmon on coastal streams have also declined, that also indicates that the problem is largely focused with ocean conditions. "The only thing that they all share in common is their residence in the coastal ocean," he said.
He said that high water exports out of the Delta and direct fish losses at water pumps could explain why salmon from the Central Valley have had "an inordinately large decline relative to other stocks."
With low rain and snow last year, and yet high water exports to points south, fall-run salmon were down 80 percent in the San Joaquin River Basin, with only 1,158 fish, according to the San Joaquin Basin Newsletter.
"Concurrent declines," Garza said, in other Delta species, such as the endangered Delta smelt, makes it "seem likely" that Delta conditions are a contributing factor.
"As with most things, it appears that there are multiple causes to the salmon decline," Garza said. Based on his group's studies, he predicted dramatic fluctuations in the future.
Chronicle readers have suggested additional reasons why the salmon have disappeared:
Wiped out by netters: Foreign trawlers, the giant mother ships that drag huge scoop nets, have the capabilities to wipe out thousands of salmon with one swipe of the net, and they do so without United States oversight.
Humboldt squid: Voracious swarms of 50-pound Humboldt squid, which seem to devour everything in their path, are now wintering off the Bay Area coast and have located and annihilated schools of salmon (and rockfish).
Predators galore: High numbers of predators, including sea lions, elephant seals and killer whales, are eating the fish into a decline, similar to how mountain lions killing both deer and Sierra bighorns have put those species on the brink in the Sierra Nevada.
Using smolts as striper feed: By releasing salmon smolts from the hatcheries on a routine schedule in the Lower Delta, they have trained striped bass into a feeding program, where the smolts get wiped out every time they're plunked in the water.
Delta fish grinders: The suction force of the Delta pumps, which reverses tide flows near Clifton Court at the intake, is simply grinding up all the juvenile fish that try to swim past the area.
Carrying capacity: The basic "carrying capacity" of the rivers/delta/bay system, that is, the amount of food and freshwater available as habitat, has declined because of water diversion and industrial pollution, and in turn, the habitat can support far fewer fish than in the past.
End Quote.
Doug

Story Published: Apr 10, 2008 at 6:30 PM PDT
Story Updated: Apr 10, 2008 at 6:42 PM PDT
By KOMO Staff & News Services

SEATAC, Wash. -- West Coast fisheries managers have voted to cancel all commercial salmon fishing off the California and Oregon coasts this year.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council decided Thursday to allow limited recreational coho fishing on holiday weekends off the Oregon coast.

"It is absolutely critical to maintain some fishing opportunity to maintain hope and optimism with regard to what is a tough year in a lot of other arenas," said Steve Williams, Oregon's representative on the council.

Scientists and government officials are expecting this year's West Coast salmon season to be one of the worst in history. Although commercial salmon fishing off the Washington coast is scheduled to begin May 1, fisheries managers do not predict a good season off either the north or south Pacific coasts.

Wild salmon count is currently at an all-time low due to the collapse of the Sacramento River chinook run, which is usually one of the most productive on the Pacific Coast, providing the bulk of the salmon caught by sport and commercial trollers off California and Oregon.

But only about 90,000 adult chinook returned to the Central Valley last fall - the second lowest number on record and well below the number needed to maintain a healthy fishery. That number is projected to fall to a record low of 58,000 this year. By contrast, 775,000 adults were counted in the Sacramento River and its tributaries as recently as 2002.

"It's probably more than 50 percent lower than what we've set for a conservation objective. So, for me, there's a lot of risk associated with fishing on that stock when it's so low," said Marija Vojkovich, California's representative on the council.

The council's decision still must be confirmed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The salmon run collapse is a blow to fishermen, tackle shops, charter boat operators and other businesses that depend on commercial and recreational salmon fishing.

Several fishermen told KOMO 4 News canceling the commercial salmon season would cut their salaries by 25 to 40 percent. However, they supported the cancellation, stating their current losses will help boost the salmon count in the future.

For consumers, it will be hard to find any chinook, also known as king salmon, which are prized by anglers, seafood connoisseurs and upscale restaurants. There should still be abundant supplies of farm-raised salmon and wild sockeye from Alaska, but prices could be higher.

"It's going to be devastating to the marketplace to have no California king salmon at all," said David Goldenberg, CEO of the California Salmon Council. "For people who want high-quality salmon, they're not going to have that choice."

There is concern that without a commercial season, the price of wild salmon could hit $40 per pound. As of Thursday afternoon, a pound of Columbia River King salmon was priced at $32.50.

Biologists and others are trying to figure out what caused the salmon collapse so they can make sure California's chinook populations rebound.

There are many potential factors, because wild salmon are born in streams and rivers, migrate to the ocean when they're juveniles and spend two to four years there before returning to spawn in the areas where they were born. In between they have to navigate the often treacherous waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay.

The council has asked state and federal scientists to research 46 possible causes, including water diversions, habitat destruction, dam operations, agricultural pollution, marine predators and ocean conditions.

Many scientists point to unusual weather patterns that disrupted the marine food chain along the Pacific Coast in 2005, when thousands of seabirds washed up dead or starving because they couldn't find enough to eat.

Researchers believe those poor ocean conditions also devastated the juvenile salmon that would have returned to the Central Valley last year. Young chinook couldn't find the tiny shrimp and fish they depend on to survive.

"The fish went to the ocean in 2005 and found nothing to eat when they got there. They either starved to death or got so weak from not eating enough that they got eaten by predators," said Bill Peterson, an oceanographer with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Peterson said ocean conditions have improved since then, which could help revive West Coast salmon populations.

Many fishermen and environmentalists believe the main problem lies in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. They say too much water is being diverted to farms and water districts in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California.

They want the state and federal government to limit pumping from the delta, which disorients migrating salmon and kills young fish that get sucked into the powerful pumps. They're also calling for a reduction in agricultural runoff and the restoration of salmon habitat in the rivers.

"We did have some poor ocean conditions, but that doesn't explain why the Central Valley stocks took such a severe hit," said Zeke Grader, who heads the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

But California state water officials believe the ocean is the chief culprit. The water pumps continue to meet stringent operating standards, and while more water has been diverted in recent years, there's also been more water available to export, said Jerry Johns, deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources.

"Ocean conditions are the most likely cause here," Johns said. "The requirements that we have to abide by to protect these fish haven't changed in the last several years." End Quote.
Doug

"There should still be abundant supplies of farm-raised salmon and wild sockeye from Alaska, but prices could be higher."

The farm-raised fish may very well have an effect on the wild stocks before all is finished... and not a good one...

Also wonder about the abundant pink, coho, chum and chinook from AK. Seems our commercial fishermen are always complaining about the salmon glut... ;)
art