[env-trinity] California estimates fewer salmon in Klamath River this year, worrying Yurok Tribe

[Tom Stokely]

https://www.redwoodtimes.com/2020/02/28/california-estimates-fewer-salmon-in-klamath-river-this-year-worrying-yurok-tribe/

California estimates fewer salmon in Klamath River this year, worrying Yurok Tribe
   
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Chinook salmon runs are expected to lower this fall than last year.(Shaun Walker — The Times-Standard file)By SHOMIK MUKHERJEE | smukherjee at times-standard.com | PUBLISHED: February 28, 2020 at 5:37 p.m. | UPDATED: February 28, 2020 at 5:37 p.m.

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California estimates fewer salmon in Klamath River this year, worrying Y...

“It’s not looking promising in 2020, no,” said Desma Williams, a senior fisheries biologist for the Yurok Tribe.
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The state is projecting lower numbers of adult full-run Chinook salmon in the Klamath River this year, a discouraging sign for the Yurok Tribe, whose fisheries have been devastated by reduced fish counts in recent years.

“It’s certainly a tough abundance forecast,” said Pete McHugh of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It makes things hard both in the river and the ocean for fisheries.”

The state’s Chinook abundance forecast comes out to 186,000 adult salmon, a 32% decrease last year’s count of 274,200 adult salmon. And the past two years of projections are significantly down from 2018, when the state forecasted 359,000 adult salmon.

Importantly, these are just predictions. Postseason analyses by the state often find actual populations are lower than initially anticipated, like last year, when the state found just over 156,200 fish (roughly 42% less than expected).
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Weather plays a large role in whether the actual numbers meet the forecasts.

“This last year, we had pretty poor marine conditions,” McHugh said. “You could have the most abundant fish reach the ocean and it’s too warm, so there’s a lower abundance.”

At meetings over the next two months, the Pacific Fishery Management Council will determine fishing quotas for various stakeholders in the Klamath’s salmon populations.

But the Yurok Tribe, which has closed its commercial fisheries in multiple years and whose leadership has been outspoken about the leveling impact of low fish counts, is not expecting a good outcome this year.

“It’s not looking promising in 2020, no,” said Desma Williams, a senior fisheries biologist for the Yurok Tribe. “The 2019 season went very poorly. There were not a lot of fish and we had anticipated a lot more than we actually saw.”

By comparison, Williams said, 2018’s fall run “wasn’t terrible — it wasn’t good, either, but it was adequate for us to eat.”

The tribe’s last good commercial year was in 2015, Williams added.

Years of lower salmon runs have contributed, in part, to a widespread effort to remove multiple dams currently slowing water flow in the Klamath River. The contractor tasked with removing the dams is targeting the early months of 2022 to finish the job.


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Contractor signs on for Klamath Dam removal project

A company is officially on board to be the primary contractor for the Klamath Dam removal project, the latest ta...
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While dam removal will be a positive step in opening up more fish habitat, Williams said, it may be several more years before the salmon begin working their way up the river to the newly available streams.

“Things are messed up here at this point,” Williams said. “It’s going to take a while before something good happens.”
Shomik Mukherjee can be reached at 707-441-0504. 
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