Salmon Recovery?

[craigfalk]

This is very interesting. Matt, do you have information on the Salmon run on the Lower Yuba River? I see fishery biologist counting the carcases. There is no hatchery on the Yuba and Salmon actively spawn in the river for many miles below Englebright Dam. I assume these fish are wild, native Salmon. Is that the case? I have definitely caught a few fin clipped Steelhead in the Yuba and have been told they were Feather River hatchery fish that lost their way. Is that true of some of the Yuba River Salmon as well?

[Darian]

"Another question, does evidence exist that the steelhead population fluctuation follow suit with salmon, or are the two species mutually exclusive?"

Since they're similar species, it would be easy to say that their population fluctuations match each other. However, there may well be some very important distinctions between the two. For example, the distance of ocean migrations may vary. Salmon wander far up the west coast. Not sure about Steelhead.


Hopefully, Matt or someone else can answer this one.

[BobVP]

All I can add here is that yesterday I spoke with an old friend that has commercial fished here for more than 40 years and his comment was; He has never seen the ocean so void of life between Pt Arena and Shelter Cove" Nothing. Below PA lots of stuff happening. Above SC the same. Very poor commercial season in between.
He doesn't spend as much time as years gone by on the longer trips but I do trust what he says.
Odd, no?

[matt johnson]

This is very interesting. Matt, do you have information on the Salmon run on the Lower Yuba River? I see fishery biologist counting the carcases. There is no hatchery on the Yuba and Salmon actively spawn in the river for many miles below Englebright Dam. I assume these fish are wild, native Salmon. Is that the case? I have definitely caught a few fin clipped Steelhead in the Yuba and have been told they were Feather River hatchery fish that lost their way. Is that true of some of the Yuba River Salmon as well?

Yuba River Chinook escapement estimates are conducted annually. The Yuba River is not part of my area, but I know there is a fall run Chinook cracass survey and there is a Vaki station at the ladder at Daguerre Dam. Central Valley Chinook salmon population estimates are tabulated in Grantab. Here is a link for Grantab through 2010:

http://www.fws.gov/stockton/afrp/doc...Tab_020111.pdf

No salmon hatchery on the Yuba, but stray fall and spring run Chinook show up there every year. Many of these strays are from the Feather River hatchery. The people you see out there conducting the carcass surveys will be examining each carcass for a missing adipose and taking the head of every fish that is "clipped". Next time you are fishing the "egg bite" on the Yuba spend some time looking at the fresh salmon carcassess to see if they have a clipped adipose fin or not. Betcha' you will find a clipped fish if you examine more than a couple. The Yuba is considered a significant strong-hold for natural Chinook production, but the population has likely long been influenced and will continued to be influenced by stray hatchery fish from the Feather given its location in the watershed.

I have also cught stray hatchery steelhead on the Yuba and have seen pictures of hatchery steelhead cuaght on the Yuba on this board and other places. All hatchery steelhead released in the Central Valley are marked with a clipped adipose fin. It is a nice "bonus" to hook a chunky Feather River steelie on the Yuba, but I always have some mixed feelings about them being in there.... The Yuba is a cool river. We are all lucky to have it near us.

[winxp_man]

Matt,

Thanks for that link! That is a interesting read. I wonder what happened after 2006. The numbers drop just stupid crazy from in the 200,xxx's to the 60,xxx's........


In your opinion does releasing the young smolts further down like in the bay or delta have a big impact on how the returns come back? Reason being I remember years back when the catch was good that I have not heard of much fish being released in the delta or bay. It was more recent years when I started seeing smolt release in the delta and bay.



And here is one example just so no one says where is the proof.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/201...0/18713283.php

[matt johnson]

Matt,

I wonder what happened after 2006. The numbers drop just stupid crazy from in the 200,xxx's to the 60,xxx's........[/url]

Yeah winxp, that was the beginning of the big "crash" that lead to the fishing closures in 2008 and 2009. What is interesting is that it affectd all rivers and all races of Chinook in the Central Valley. Last year, and early indications this year, show a trend of climbing out of the hole. Hopefully it continues... If you look through the Grandtab data you will see a similar decline in the early 1990's, although it was not quite as severe as 2007-2010.

In your opinion does releasing the young smolts further down like in the bay or delta have a big impact on how the returns come back? Reason being I remember years back when the catch was good that I have not heard of much fish being released in the delta or bay. It was more recent years when I started seeing smolt release in the delta and bay.
[/url]

Coded wire tag recoveries from salmon carcasses and the ocean and inland fishery show that hatchery smolts released at the bottom of the delta and in the bay survive at higher rates than those released further upriver. The salmon "crash" starting in 2007 resulted in increased pressure from user groups on hatcheries to truck more fish to increase survival. This makes lots of fisherman happy but results in increased straying when these fish return as adults. It is kind of like these fish lack a "road-map" of how to get back home becuase they were moved downstream in a truck instead of moving downstream on their own. Last spring a batch of hatchery juveniles were "barged" downstream in a specially converted boat where the tank the fish were held in was exposed to re-circulating river water for the entire length of the trip. I don't have a link for the news release but I bet you could find it on Google if interested. The hypothesis being that these fish will have better luck finding their way back home after being exposed to all the water from their starting point down to the bay....

[Notch]

Another way the hatchery managers boost the ocean fishery is by dumping a bunch of fall run smolts (Feather River I think) into the Santa Cruz harbor. These fish apparently have great survival rates and add to the ocean catch, but now they are back in the harbor trying to find a river to swim up. I hear the fishing is good off the jetty and around any culvert dumping in water.

[winxp_man]

Matt,

Thanks for all the info you have shared here

I totally understand the the surviving rate will be higher but like you also said it you will have more fish stray because like you stated they lack the map guide they develop when they go down themselves. Its like homing pigeons that my father raises. He tells me that there are instances when they will go back to the owner even (and this sounds almost impossible) if given to another breeder as an egg. But then again its a very rare thing.

I'm not saying that all young salmon will not return but that there will be quite a few salmon that will stray. Now the boating the fish down through the water in a special suited boat sounds interesting! I will try to find some info on this and do a little reading. Also yes this year we have a way better return then the previous years.

Again thanks for sharing info with us here!

[OceanSunfish]

Another way the hatchery managers boost the ocean fishery is by dumping a bunch of fall run smolts (Feather River I think) into the Santa Cruz harbor. These fish apparently have great survival rates and add to the ocean catch, but now they are back in the harbor trying to find a river to swim up. I hear the fishing is good off the jetty and around any culvert dumping in water.

I remember hearing about a similar project that will be supervised by Coastside Fishing Club in the near future. Smolt will be released into Princeton Harbor. It's assumed that the surviving adults will return to Princeton Harbor in late summer looking for a trib to head up, etc. This should also create a month or so fishery for guys fishing along the jetty too.

I believe similar smolt releases were conducted at Monterey Wharf in the past. Large dark salmon could be seen cruising the wharf area providing a fishery for pier anglers.