THE OSPREY The International Journal of Salmon and Steelhead Conservation Issue No. 96 May 2020 Fraser Basin Summer Steelhead Collapse Commercial salmon fisheries intercept adult spawners ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: KLAMATH DAMS UPDATE • RECOVERING SALMON TO SAVE ORCAS • COLUMBIA-SNAKE RIVER SALMON AND STEELHEAD COLD WATER REFUGIA • WILD REDFISH LAKE SOCKEYE Contents THE OSPREY Chair Pete Soverel Columns & News Editor 3 From the Perch — Editor’s Message Jim Yuskavitch Editorial Committee 4 Hits and Misses — Chair’s Corner Pete Soverel • Ryan Smith Greg Knox • Ralf Kroning 5 Guest Column — Puget Sound Steelhead Advisory Rich Simms • Kurt Beardslee Group Minority Report Scientific Advisors Rick Williams • Jack Stanford Jim Lichatowich • Bill McMillan 22 Fish Watch: Wild Fish News, Issues and Initiatives Bill Bakke • Michael Price Design & Layout Features Jim Yuskavitch Fraser Basin Summer Steelhead Collapse Letters To The Editor 6 The Osprey welcomes letters to the By Scott Simpson editor. Article submissions are wel- come but queries in advance are pre- ferred. Klamath River Dams: Where are we today? The Osprey 10 69278 Lariat By Dr. Mark Rockwell Sisters, OR 97759 [email protected] The Osprey is a joint publication of not-for-profit A Monumental (Task) Force organizations concerned with the conservation and 13 sustainable management of wild Pacific salmon and Saving salmon to save Southern Resident orcas steelhead and their habitat throughout their native and introduced ranges. This unique partnership in- cludes The Conservation Angler, Fly Fishers Inter- By Colleen Weiler national, Steelhead Society of British Columbia, SkeenaWild Conservation trust, Wild Salmon Cen- ter, Wild Fish Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and Wild Steelhead Coalition. Financial support is pro- Columbia and Snake River Basin Salmon-Steelhead vided by partner organizations, individuals, clubs 16 and corporations. The Osprey is published three Crisis 2020 times a year in January, May and September. All materials are copyrighted and require permission By Joseph Bogaard prior to reprinting or other use. 19 ODFW Establishes No Angling Sanctuaries for Three New Columbia River Thermal Refuges By Dave Moskowitz 20 The Naturals: Will wild Redfish Lake sockeye salmon endure? By Pat Ford Cover Photo Courtesy NASA The Osprey © 2020 2 The Osprey FROM THE PERCH — EDITOR’S MESSAGE Nature and the Virus by Jim Yuskavitch s much of the world’s population hunkered down to vehicles to allow for outdoor dining. Conservation officials over the last couple of months to help slow the in Thailand are planning to close their parks periodically to spread of the Coronavirus and Covid-19, the dis- help wildlife. ease that it causes, scientists and other ob- It remains to be seen whether or not people are willing to servers of nature began to notice some changes. make some changes in how they live and use natural re- AAs human activity — everything from travel, use of motor- sources. It’s just as likely that everyone will go back to doing ized vehicles, industrial and other commercial endeavors things they way they always did. slowed — the planet was slowly becoming noticeably cleaner For wild salmon and steelhead advocates, a new, more pos- and quieter. itive and responsible world paradigm, would undoubtably In national parks, wildlife were observed expanding into help, but it’s unlikely to put us out of business. areas that were formerly crowded with people, and in both Europe and the US, there were reports of various wildlife species coming out of the forests and mountains to wander through towns and cities as the human populations re- mained mostly indoors. With fewer cars and trucks on the road, pollution levels in the world’s major met- ropolitan areas began to drop signifi- cantly. In fact, the skies over the Indian city of Jalandhar cleared enough that its residents were able to see the Himalayan Mountains in the distance for the first time in 30 years. Some optimistic souls speculate that the Human Race may take some lessons to heart from our pandemic experience, and find the motivation to live less heav- ily on Planet Earth, and treat her and her wide range of inhabitants — including wild fish — with more respect and value. Perhaps something good will come out of all of this. People are riding bicycles more, and some cities are closing streets How The Osprey Helps Wild Fish The Osprey has been bringing the lat- So when you subscribe/donate to The est science, policy, opinion and news Osprey, you not only receive a subscrip- stories to its readers supporting wild tion yourself, but you also help us put Pacific salmon and steelhead conserva- Sending The Osprey to The Osprey into the hands of the people tion and management for 31 years. But we need bring to our side to save our we are much more than a publication decision makers is wild fish. that you subscribe to because of your key to our wild fish Please go to the subscription/donation own interest in wild fish conservation. form on page 23 or on-line at The funds we receive from our sub- conservation advocacy. http://www.theconservationangler.com scribers allows us send The Osprey to and donate whatever you are able. wild fish conservation decision-makers Your support makes Thank you. and influencers including scientists, fisheries managers, politicians and wild that possible. Jim Yuskavitch fish advocates. Editor, The Osprey May 2020 • Issue No. 96 3 HITS & MISSES — CHAIR’S CORNER Coldwater Refugia, Yes; Wild Skagit Steelhead, No By Pete Soverel his issue’s Hits & Misses 2. Massive hatchery programs to “jump results of different recovery strategies column includes progress start” wild populations (Elwha/two to help provide an evidentiary basis to for wild Columbia River dams) guide recovery strategies, monitoring steelhead and salmon, a big regimes, and fish/fisheries manage- miss for wild steelhead on 3. “Conservation” hatcheries (talk about ment. Tthe Skagit and discussion of the various an oxymoron) based upon wild or near We are pleased to received a detailed strategies used to restore salmon and wild brood stock to prevent local ex- description of Klamath dam removal steelhead runs after dam removal. tinctions and provide a base for recov- and fish recovery strategies, which ery of wild populations (Sandy River; readers will find beginning on page 10. HITS Klamath – proposed); More such articles will be published in future issues of The Osprey. 4. Mining eggs from wild, in-river redds Columbia River coldwater refugia to be reared in hatcheries to boost lo- The Oregon Department of Fish and cally adapted wild populations (Elwha MISSES Wildlife has established cold water winter run steelhead) refugia at several locations along the Skagit Steelhead Management Zone Oregon side of the Columbia River. As 5. Elements of some or all of the above. the summer progresses, temperatures In 2008, the Washington Fish and in the main stem Columbia approach So far, there is little evidence that Wildlife Commission adopted a lethal levels. The fish naturally congre- hatchery assisted recovery based upon Statewide Steelhead Management Plan gate in the cold water plumes at the either massive or conservation hatch- and directed the Washington Depart- mouths of cold water tributaries. These eries is effective — Elwha Chinook and ment of Fish and Wildlife to identify the congregations attract, in turn, targeted winter steelhead, for example. There is most productive rivers for designation recreational as well as tribal fishing ef- some evidence that natural recovery as Wild Steelhead Management Zones fort. After years of persistent lobbying can be effective (Elwha: dramatic sum- (WSMZs). After years of dithering, led largely by The Conservation Angler, mer run steelhead, bull trout, searun WDFW finally designed several lower Oregon did the right thing. Now it’s up cutthroat rapidly increasing natural Columbia and Olympic Peninsula to the Washington Fish and Wildlife populations; Alewife populations in rivers. Finally, in 2015, WDFW commit- Commission to follow suit, closing sim- Maine rivers; less clear in the case of ted to designate at least one such sys- ilar areas on the Washington side such White Salmon populations following re- tem in each of three zones in Puget as Wind River and Drano Lake. It’s be- moval of Condit dam). In other words, Sound — Hood Canal, South Sound and yond overdue. See page 19 of this issue the jury is out on the most efficacious North Cascade. for a detailed article on the Oregon Fish fish recovery strategies following dam WDFW solicited recommendations and Wildlife Commission’s pursuit of removal. from the public and held three separate protecting wild fish using cold water It was within this context, especially regional meetings to hear from the pub- refugia. in light of radically different responses lic. The Department received hundreds of Elwha fish populations to different of public comments and the meetings recovery strategies that I expressed Fish recovery strategies were well attended. Overwhelmingly, skepticism in the winter 2020 issue of following dam removal 800 to 900, favored a very specific set The Osprey about the proposed Kla- of rivers to be designated WSMZ’s math steelhead and Chinook recovery The Osprey Editorial Board has iden- headed by the Skagit River source to strategies that rely heavily on excep- tified dam removal and fish responses mouth, and all its tributaries. Many or- tionally short-term (one generation) to removal as key topics for editorial at- ganizations stated flexibility in river se- hatchery based models. Let’s be clear, tention systematically in all or most lection with the exception of source to The Osprey supports strongly dam re- editions of The Osprey. Dam removal mouth protection for the Skagit. On that moval and restoration of robust wild proposals and programs are flourishing issue, most conservation organizations populations. There are a variety of fish in Salmon Nation from the Canadian stipulated their commitment to “go to recovery strategies now in use or pro- border to southern California.