[Water_news] 3. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: WATERSHEDS - 10/24/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

October 24, 2008

 

3. Watersheds –

 

 

Klamath salmon looking good for 2009

Eureka Times Standard – 10/24/08

John Driscoll/The Times-Standard

Early indications are good for Klamath and Trinity river salmon next year, although Sacramento River fish -- whose collapse ground ocean commercial and sport fishing to a halt this year -- may still be struggling.

 

Counts of adult fish and 2-year-old chinook salmon, which are a strong indicator of next year's run, have been strong at several weirs on the Klamath and Trinity. While it's still early, the beginning numbers are encouraging.

 

For example, some 1,000 2-year-olds -- called jacks -- have been counted at the Willow Creek weir. Last year at this time there were 50 counted, said California Department of Fish and Game biologist Wade Sinnen.

 

Biologists don't start tabulating all the information on the two rivers until the end of December, Sinnen said, but so far it appears that the run will be average or perhaps a bit better. Counts at other weirs on Klamath tributaries also are up, he said.

 

”It's really all still up in the air,” Sinnen said.

 

Klamath River salmon stocks have long limited fishermen's access to typically more abundant Sacramento River fish in the ocean. That's because they mix at sea, and fishery managers try to limit the effect of fishing on the Klamath salmon.

 

Dave Hillemeier, a senior biologist with the Yurok Tribe, said that information collected from the tribe's fishery is promising.

 

In 2006, commercial fishing for hundreds of miles north and south of the Klamath mouth was severely restricted.

 

But this year, it was a radical decline of Sacramento River fish that triggered an even wider closure of both ocean commercial and sport salmon seasons. Both of the crashes were considered disasters, and prompted Congress to provide tens of millions in relief.

 

All eyes are now on the Sacramento, particularly how many 2-year-old and 3-year-old salmon run up the river and its tributaries.

 

Dick Pool with Water4Fish, a fishing advocacy group, said that the figures he's collected from the Sacramento River don't look good.

”All evidence is that Sacramento River runs are down,” Pool said.

 

The number of fish predicted to return next year must meet a threshold to allow fishing. Also important is that hatcheries are able to collect enough eggs from adult fish, said Humboldt County Supervisor Jimmy Smith, also a sportfishing representative.

 

”If they don't, that means they even more have to protect those four-year-olds for next year,” Smith said.

 

Four-year-old fish are especially important to the commercial fishery, which generally has a larger size limit than the sport fishery. #

http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_10803408

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DWR's California Water News is distributed to California Department of Water Resources management and staff, for information purposes, by the DWR Public Affairs Office. For reader's services, including new subscriptions, temporary cancellations and address changes, please use the online page: http://listhost2.water.ca.gov/mailman/listinfo/water_news. DWR operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Inclusion of materials is not to be construed as an endorsement of any programs, projects, or viewpoints by the Department or the State of California.