150 Chinook salmon to be released in Spokane River

[Special T]

I still don't get how there isn't fish passage at Grand Coulee and several other dams on the Snake above the Grand Ronde. That all being said, the dams aren't going anywhere, nor should they, anytime soon

on the snake and grande ronde? the only 1 blocking on the snake would be in hells canyon oxbow no dams on the ronde. Reason there is no ladder on coulee is elevation its 500' up and there is no way to make a ladder to go that high.

[SuperX]

I still don't get how there isn't fish passage at Grand Coulee and several other dams on the Snake above the Grand Ronde. That all being said, the dams aren't going anywhere, nor should they, anytime soon

on the snake and grande ronde? the only 1 blocking on the snake would be in hells canyon oxbow no dams on the ronde. Reason there is no ladder on coulee is elevation its 500' up and there is no way to make a ladder to go that high.

Genius!  Looks like it would pay for itself in dams with spillways now and open up the whole river for those that don't

[callturner]

Actually, a ladder was designed for Coulee, It would have had to start 5 miles downstream and would have had to had resting pools. I read about it a couple of times.

[HUNTIN4SIX]

Alot easier to simply trap adults and haul them...standard practice.

[Fishmaker57]

So, let’s break this down.
I’m just going off what I have read, feel free to correct me.
They are releasing 150 spawners in the Spokane river.  If this is above little falls dam, their is hundreds, if not thousands of pikeminnow waiting for downstream smolts in that section.
So, let’s say a significant portion of the smolts make it to lake Roosevelt.  Not sure if that’s even the plan?   
I’ve caught Chinook in Rosy before, and seen some caught.  Most are not big.  Not exactly egg wagons.
If the goal is to get them all they way to sea that seems like a miracle if a couple fish come back.
Did they say these fish are not tagged? 
I know some fish will show up below chief Joseph, and probably get netted but they are most likely strays with the instinct to go up river.
I think 150 adult fish is quite a lot of fish to be wasting on a experiment we are not even likely to know the results of. 
Maybe I’m missing the point.

That's about the size of it.

This was a pr effort, coinciding with the big meeting. Everyone involved knows that releasing those salmon will have zero net effect except perhaps to draw attention.

"It illustrates, however, the increasing prominence given to Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in fishery and natural resource management. Roughly 1,500 fish and water scientists, educators and policymakers from around the world are in Spokane for the weeklong conference. That conference opened with an address from Spokane Tribal chairwoman Carol Evans and prominently featured Wednesday’s talk from Seyler and the accompanying fish release. Even 10 years ago this wouldn’t have happened, Seyler said."

I don’t understand the conversation.

150 is a symbolic gesture of the tribe saying they haven’t forgot and they aren’t going to stop trying to get salmon back in the upper river.

I don’t blame them but the hurdles will be insurmountable for hundreds of years.

Pretty much ^this^.

I am going to try and address some of the comments and concerns voiced on here, as I have been involved in the effort of reintroduction above the blocked area for the past 4 years. This effort should actually be called “ How do you eat and elephant - one bite at a time! “

Obviously most folks know there hasn’t been anadromous fish passage at Grand Coulee since it was built, but did you know there is more available habitat above the Dam than below? Getting fish passage, of any type ( trap and haul or some type of ladder) is a leviathan task, that will take many years, but the longest journey begins with one step.

Some call this a PR stunt, but actually this is the 4th year of adults being placed above the dam, by both the Spokane Tribe and the Colville Tribe. The timing of this year’s release is meant to draw attention to the effort, but it’s not a waste of fish.

First off, these adult Summer Chinook are hatchery fish trapped at Wells Hatchery (owened and operated by Douglas PUD). These are surplus adults, not needed for brood, and are normally available for various Tribes, to distribute to their membership. They are not sold, and are only surplused once the sport fishery has subsided, and they are closer to spawning. The fish are held at the hatchery, sampled for pathogens, then transferred to the blocked area. The Tribes pay all of the costs for this effort.

The Colville Tribe started this effort, with adults, and the Spokane Tribe followed the next year, although they did release Spring Chinook smolts (that were PIT tagged) 4 years ago in the upper Spokane. The Colville Tribe monitored the spawning success in the San Poil and then smolt trapped out migrated juveniles and PIT tagged them as well. In both efforts, downstream migrants wee entrained at both Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph, and showed that they can successfully pass both projects. In the case of the Spokane’s effort with Spring Chinook, not only did they make it downstream, but had an adult return to the base of Chief Joseph dam last year!

Some would say this is still a waste, but proving that it is viable, even in small numbers, adds credit to the effort of getting passage at these dams. As for ladders, obviously Chief Joseph would be simple ( the design has been on the books for years) but Grand Coulee is a different animal. The Whooosh system is capable of getting them over the top; the issue is the upstream side. At the time of year, the drop on the other side can be 100’ due to the Spring drawdown. There are other designs floating around, but trap and haul is probably the best option for now.

I could go on for hours on this, but suffice to say this is one step in a long journey, but reintroduction is the right thing to do, and has potential to increase run sizes. It has been proven on other rivers (Baker, Cowlitz, Lewis) so why not the Columbia?

[7mmfan]

So, let’s break this down.
I’m just going off what I have read, feel free to correct me.
They are releasing 150 spawners in the Spokane river.  If this is above little falls dam, their is hundreds, if not thousands of pikeminnow waiting for downstream smolts in that section.
So, let’s say a significant portion of the smolts make it to lake Roosevelt.  Not sure if that’s even the plan?   
I’ve caught Chinook in Rosy before, and seen some caught.  Most are not big.  Not exactly egg wagons.
If the goal is to get them all they way to sea that seems like a miracle if a couple fish come back.
Did they say these fish are not tagged? 
I know some fish will show up below chief Joseph, and probably get netted but they are most likely strays with the instinct to go up river.
I think 150 adult fish is quite a lot of fish to be wasting on a experiment we are not even likely to know the results of. 
Maybe I’m missing the point.

That's about the size of it.

This was a pr effort, coinciding with the big meeting. Everyone involved knows that releasing those salmon will have zero net effect except perhaps to draw attention.

"It illustrates, however, the increasing prominence given to Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in fishery and natural resource management. Roughly 1,500 fish and water scientists, educators and policymakers from around the world are in Spokane for the weeklong conference. That conference opened with an address from Spokane Tribal chairwoman Carol Evans and prominently featured Wednesday’s talk from Seyler and the accompanying fish release. Even 10 years ago this wouldn’t have happened, Seyler said."

I don’t understand the conversation.

150 is a symbolic gesture of the tribe saying they haven’t forgot and they aren’t going to stop trying to get salmon back in the upper river.

I don’t blame them but the hurdles will be insurmountable for hundreds of years.

Pretty much ^this^.

I am going to try and address some of the comments and concerns voiced on here, as I have been involved in the effort of reintroduction above the blocked area for the past 4 years. This effort should actually be called “ How do you eat and elephant - one bite at a time! “

Obviously most folks know there hasn’t been anadromous fish passage at Grand Coulee since it was built, but did you know there is more available habitat above the Dam than below? Getting fish passage, of any type ( trap and haul or some type of ladder) is a leviathan task, that will take many years, but the longest journey begins with one step.

Some call this a PR stunt, but actually this is the 4th year of adults being placed above the dam, by both the Spokane Tribe and the Colville Tribe. The timing of this year’s release is meant to draw attention to the effort, but it’s not a waste of fish.

First off, these adult Summer Chinook are hatchery fish trapped at Wells Hatchery (owened and operated by Douglas PUD). These are surplus adults, not needed for brood, and are normally available for various Tribes, to distribute to their membership. They are not sold, and are only surplused once the sport fishery has subsided, and they are closer to spawning. The fish are held at the hatchery, sampled for pathogens, then transferred to the blocked area. The Tribes pay all of the costs for this effort.

The Colville Tribe started this effort, with adults, and the Spokane Tribe followed the next year, although they did release Spring Chinook smolts (that were PIT tagged) 4 years ago in the upper Spokane. The Colville Tribe monitored the spawning success in the San Poil and then smolt trapped out migrated juveniles and PIT tagged them as well. In both efforts, downstream migrants wee entrained at both Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph, and showed that they can successfully pass both projects. In the case of the Spokane’s effort with Spring Chinook, not only did they make it downstream, but had an adult return to the base of Chief Joseph dam last year!

Some would say this is still a waste, but proving that it is viable, even in small numbers, adds credit to the effort of getting passage at these dams. As for ladders, obviously Chief Joseph would be simple ( the design has been on the books for years) but Grand Coulee is a different animal. The Whooosh system is capable of getting them over the top; the issue is the upstream side. At the time of year, the drop on the other side can be 100’ due to the Spring drawdown. There are other designs floating around, but trap and haul is probably the best option for now.

I could go on for hours on this, but suffice to say this is one step in a long journey, but reintroduction is the right thing to do, and has potential to increase run sizes. It has been proven on other rivers (Baker, Cowlitz, Lewis) so why not the Columbia?

That is great information Fismaker57, thank you for contributing that. I am all for reintroduction above those dams. I have spent a lot of time fishing trout in the upper Columbia near the border. It would be amazing to have salmon and steelhead traveling those waters again. What a boom to the ecosystem it would be to have that biomass back.

[wags]

I just can't see how enough smolts will ever be able to make it all the way down Lake Roosevelt to make this a viable plan, without of course removing Grand Coulee Dam; oh, wait, maybe that is the ultimate plan?

[C-Money]

In a perfect scenario, the chinook would use Lake Roosevelt as their "ocean" and only feed on pike fry which would save the salmon species below the dams...