NWF.003/Feb.26.96

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UPDATE: Mar.01.96 :: The executive summary of DSI consultant Steve Cramer's smolt survival study, updated February 1996, is now available on-line.

Fish News
Reports on Fish Policy Development

[1] SPRING/SUMMER SMOLT COUNTS DOWN DRAMATICALLY FROM 1995 :: According to federal and state fish agency estimates, the numbers of wild spring/summer chinook smolts arriving at Lower Granite Dam this spring will be down dramatically from last year. A National Marine Fisheries Service report agrees with estimates from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game that only 168,750 wild spring/summers will reach the first dam on the Snake River in 1996. That represents an extraordinary drop from the 1.3 million wild spring/summers that showed up last year. Spring/summer chinook were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1991.

Snake River stocks have all suffered dramatic declines since the late 1960s, as shown in the following chart:

Spring/summer chinook	98.4 percent decline
Fall chinook	97.2 percent decline
Sockeye	99.9 percent decline
Steelhead	90.4 percent decline

All but steelhead have been listed under the Endangered Species Act. When spring/summer chinook were listed, the wild run was 7,530. In 1995, this run shrunk to 1,116, the lowest on record. Steelhead may soon join the other species on the endangered list. Steelhead returns in 1995 were nearly the same as spring/summer chinook returns the year that fish was added to the endangered list [Bill Bakke/Lynn Francisco].

[2] IDAHO'S NEW SALMON PLAN COULD REDUCE BARGING :: Top Idaho officials have endorsed a new salmon recovery plan that would cut the numbers of fish barged around Columbia River dams. Developed by Gov. Phil Batt, the scheme calls on the National Marine Fisheries Service to lower the flow target trigger for spilling water over Lower Granite. Last year, fish were barged until flows exceeded 100,000 cubic feet-per-second. The plan also supports using 427,000 acre-feet of upper Snake River water to augment flows and it allows use of Dworshak water for salmon flows, provided that Dworshak maintains full pool during summer months. Idaho's Republican leadership lined up behind the plan, praising it in a press release from the Northwest Power Planning Council [Lynn Francisco].

[3] IDAHO LEGISLATURE ATTEMPTS TO PROTECT DWORSHAK WATER :: The Idaho legislature held its first hearing on a water management bill that would protect Dworshak Reservoir from deep drawdowns for salmon flows. Called the Comprehensive State Water Plan for the North Fork of the Clearwater Basin, the measure requires hydro operators to manage the reservoir's summer levels "to optimize the seasonal beneficial uses of recreation and log transportation." However, the plan may hit a snag: the US Army Corps of Engineers owns and operates Dworshak. While Corps officials say they will seriously consider Idaho's input, they must abide by federal mandates, including fish protection as outlined in the federal hydro biological opinion [Jude Noland].

[4] NWPPC OFFERS THREE ALTERNATIVES ON FISH & WILDLIFE GOVERNANCE :: The Northwest Power Planning Council is offering the region three alternatives to satisfy the Congressional mandate to bring more regional control to fish and wildlife governance. In a draft proposal approved at the Boise meeting on Feb. 20, the council suggests alternatives that range from no change in current governance to a total re-design of the power council, adding new members and increasing its authority over endangered species protection. The latter proposal would require legislative change and could be far more difficult to sell to the region. The proposal is out for public comment until April 1 [Lynn Francisco].

[5] BPA READY TO APPROVE YAKAMA FISHERIES PROJECT :: Fourteen years after it was first proposed, the Yakama Fisheries Project appears close to becoming a reality. Bonneville reportedly is ready to approve the $38 million project, which could add as many as 810,000 juvenile spring chinook to the Mid-Columbia River each year, nearly triple the largest outmigration of that stock in the last 10 years. The project remains somewhat controversial because it will test supplementation, the spawning of wild fish in hatcheries and outplanting their offspring into acclimation ponds and nearby streams. Bonneville is taking comments on the project's EIS until the end of February. The agency is expected to issue a Record of Decision in March. If approved, construction could begin this spring, with the first release of smolts in 1999 [Lynn Francisco].

[6] FLOODING DEVASTATES HATCHERIES, DAMAGES WILD SALMON SPAWNING BEDS :: Early February's massive floods hit Columbia River fish hatcheries, causing more than $17 million in damages to federal facilities and possibly millions more to state hatcheries. At least 1.8 million young salmon were lost at state and federal hatcheries, according to fish managers. Wild runs were hurt also, as the flood waters destroyed spawning areas and flushed early migrating smolts. But some fish experts say the flooding may benefit fish in the long term, by increasing nutrients and creating more complex, healthier watersheds [Lynn Francisco].

[7] FINAL REPORT: GBD PANEL SAYS SPILL ASSUMPTIONS NEED SCIENTIFIC VALIDATION :: The NMFS gas bubble disease panel of experts have reported that without scientific testing of basic assumptions, the spill "monitoring program of 1994-1996 is of questionable value." The nine-member panel said monitoring should continue in 1996, "but only in conjunction with research to test critical assumptions." The nine scientists said a monitoring program assumption that juvenile fish can tolerate some level of dissolved nitrogen could not be accepted without testing.

The panel report executive summary, signed by panel chair Charles Coutant of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, also said that current testing of fish collected at dam bypass facilities "for clinical signs of GBD" may not be a procedure adequate to the need for scientific data. "Work toward defining survival directly is as important as monitoring clinical signs," the summary said. "There are a number of reasons why the current monitoring program at dam bypasses may not provide appropriate data to protect migrating juvenile and adult salmonids from GBD, including loss of bubbles in tissues as fish traverse the bypass system and mortality of GBD-affected fish in reservoirs before reaching dam bypasses." The full report is not yet available [Cyrus Noë].

[8] NMFS SURVIVAL STUDY REPEATS EARLIER FINDINGS OF LOW RESERVOIR MORTALITY :: The third year of a multi-year study by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the University of Washington confirms earlier results that showed low reservoir mortality for migrating salmon. The so-called Skalski/Williams/Iwamoto study claims that mortality was 10 percent or less in reservoirs between Lower Granite, Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams, with survival rates dropping down to 70 percent when measured between Lower Granite and McNary, the fifth dam on the Snake River. The draft report, based on PIT tag detections, also says that wild fish survived at a similar rate as hatchery fish. The 1995 report found survival levels even higher than similar studies done in 1993 and 1994, a factor that researchers attribute to improved migration conditions due to higher flows and spill, which kept fish away from turbines. The researchers did not evaluate mortality between dams in the Columbia. In earlier comments, the scientists said the results could not necessarily be applied to other reservoirs, including the huge reservoir behind John Day Dam on the Columbia River [Lynn Francisco].

[9] OREGON POSTPONES DECISION ON SPRING SPILL WAIVERS; WASHINGTON APPROVES WAIVER REQUEST :: The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission has postponed a decision on water quality waivers requested by the National Marine Fisheries Service for the 1996 spill program. The ruling was scheduled for Friday, Feb. 23, but the commission said it would wait until it reviewed a report from a panel of scientists charged by NMFS with evaluating last year's spill program. (See story No. [7].) The commission may not decide on the waiver until April, shortly before the spill program is set to begin. Washington's Department of Ecology, however, approved the waiver request. NMFS needs the waivers to spill water and fish over Columbia River dams, a key element of the federal salmon restoration strategy. Spilling water causes sharp increases in nitrogen levels, potentially creating lethal conditions for all aquatic life. NMFS is seeking waivers that would allow nitrogen supersaturation levels of as high as 120 percent [Lynn Francisco].

Document Annex
Works Cited

DOCUMENTS FROM NW FISHLETTER 003 :: Below are listed available documents referred to in the text of NW Fishletter issue 003.

• SB 1474, Idaho State Senate. Second Regular Session - 1996

THE ARCHIVE :: Previous NW Fishletter issues and supporting documents.