[3] Idaho Sockeye Numbers Beating Last Year's Record

With another excellent sockeye run entering the Columbia River, most are heading for the upper Columbia and beyond--to southeastern British Columbia's Lake Osoyoos.

But a few are peeling off and heading to the Snake River and Idaho's Redfish Lake, far up into the Sawtooth Range, where they lay claim as the southernmost sockeye run on the Pacific coast. The Redfish Lake run is the product of an expensive captive broodstock program designed to bring the stock back from the brink.

Last year, more than 600 made it to the weir near the lake, 462 miles past Lower Granite Dam, where 900 or so were counted. In all, it's a 900-mile freshwater migration.

And so far this year, the news is good as well. By July 13, 914 sockeye had been counted at Lower Granite, compared to 691 last year, nearly 30 percent higher. The run is a little earlier than last year, with strong daily counts still showing.

Back in 2007, only 34 had been counted by now, and in 2006, 7 sockeye had made it past the dam by July 12. The final dam tally for those years was 52 and 17, respectively.

The Redfish Lake sockeye was the first salmon run to be listed for ESA protection in the Columbia Basin, back in 1991.

Since then, returns have been mostly meager until last year, when a relative bonanza showed up. Some fish managers credited most of the increase to added spill for juvenile migrants, but a hard look by federal scientists said the improved ocean conditions were likely the main influence.

They estimated that about 600 Snake-bound sockeye would enter the Columbia this year.

Last March, Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist Paul Klein told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council that 2008's count of sockeye jacks at Lower Granite could mean even better adult returns this year. About 900 adults and jacks were counted there.

He wouldn't speculate about the size of this year's run because of the uncertain relationship between sockeye jacks and adults returning the following year. But in 2000, when 300 adults made it to the dam (the previous high), seven jacks were seen the year before, he said.

However, 150 jacks were counted last year. Klein said the lack of data keeps biologists from developing a relationship between jack numbers and adults, but he expected this year's sockeye return to be at least as good as last year's and possibly higher.

But a few will still be nabbed by fishermen. With around 400 gillnets counted in the treaty fisheries above the dam, tribal fishers were expected to catch about 10,000 sockeye by July 2, along with 12,000 summer chinook and 355 steelhead.

The ESA-impact limit on sockeye for the treaty fishery is 7 percent, and only 1 percent for non-treaty fishers. -B. R.

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