[1] Spring Chinook Run Declining Fast

The daily chinook count at Bonneville Dam dipped below a thousand last Thursday, for the first time since April 9, signaling that the spring run may not even hit the revised estimate of 340,000 (to the river mouth) released by harvest managers May 17. The run officially ends June 15.

The dam count added up to 233,000 by May 26, the highest since 2002, and the third highest since 1977. But it's a far cry from the preseason estimate of nearly 500,000 springers entering the river.

Still, it has provided a very productive spring for sport and commercial fishers in the lower Columbia, who landed 38,600 upriver-bound chinook.

With a total run pegged at 340,000, that means sporties and commercials have reached 97 percent of the 2.3-percent limit of their allotted impact on ESA-listed upriver spring chinook.

Tribal fishers above Bonneville Dam ended up catching about 41,500 springers, 1,700 more spring chinook than their 11.7-percent allocation. They have closed their spring gillnet season and fishing platforms above the dam, but have kept tributary fisheries open.

Far upriver at Lower Granite Dam, fish numbers just seem to be peaking. More than 9,000 chinook passed the dam on May 19, with the total now near 75,000 fish, more than three times last year's numbers by this date.

Nearly 90,000 chinook have entered the Snake and have been counted at Ice Harbor Dam, so there are plenty more heading for Lower Granite. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game expected an 180,000-fish return, including 29,000 wild springers, but that seems too optimistic now. The summer component of the spring/summer has been slow to materialize, but the cool weather may be affecting the upriver migration. Or it may just turn out to be a major disappointment this year. -Bill Rudolph

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