ARIEL — Weak returns of spring chinook salmon to the North Fork of the Lewis River not only are frustrating anglers, but are setting back reintroduction efforts upstream of Swift Dam.
Only about half the goal of 100,000 young spring chinook will be placed in the upper North Fork of the Lewis in each of the next two years due to too few adult fish, members of the Lewis River Aquatic Coordination Committee were told last week.
PacifiCorp’s 50-year federal license to operate the three Lewis River dams calls for reintroduction of spring chinook — along with coho and winter steelhead — upstream of Swift.
The Aquatic Coordination Committee is a monthly meeting of PacifiCorp, state and federal fishery agencies, the Forest Service, Cowlitz PUD, Indian tribes and others.
Hatcheries on the North Fork need about 1,350 spring chinook spawners a year to produce 1.25 million young salmon for release below Merwin Dam and 100,000 for the reintroduction effort upstream of Swift.
But in 2014, the adult return to the North Fork of the Lewis was only 1,112 spring chinook.
Aaron Roberts, hatcheries manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife in Southwest Washington, said his agency has 1.2 million young chinook in rearing for release downstream of Merwin.
The plan is to release 1.1 million in October and 100,000 in spring of 2016.
Roberts said 50,000 are available for release upstream of Swift this fall or next spring.
The situation is even worse for adult spring chinook returning in 2015.
The state has captured 18 wild spring chinook in the North Fork of the Lewis for spawning and release of the progeny in the upper watershed, he said.
Eighteen chinook are enough to produce 47,000 young.
While the forecast was for 1,100 adult spring chinook back to the North Lewis in 2015, the actual number will end up being 500 to 600 salmon, Roberts said.
The department has gone to the extraordinary step of seining in Cedar Creek, a tributary of the lower North Fork of the Lewis, to capture additional spring chinook for the hatchery.
Roberts said there only will be about 800,000 young spring chinook to release downstream of Merwin in the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017. That’s about two-thirds of the agency’s goal.
Spring chinook released upstream of Swift Dam acclimate in the upper watershed, then are collected during their downstream migration at a facility at the dam. From Swift, they are trucked for release downstream of Woodland.
The $65 million collector at Swift Dam began operation in December 2012. However, 2013 turned out to be a rocky year for the Swift fish collection system.
A storm tore holes in sections of the net near Swift Dam that help guide the young fish to the collector.
Eric Kinne, hatchery reform coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, noted of the 100,000 young spring chinook placed upstream of Swift in 2014, only about 3,000 have been captured at the dam and released in the lower North Fork.
Temperatures in the North Fork of the Lewis River are not typical of a spring chinook stream due to the three reservoirs upstream.
Water temperatures in the 60s in October and November cause the spring chinook to smolt early and want to head to the ocean. Smolting is the physiological process that makes anadromous fish capable to adapting to saltwater.
Smolting causes spring chinook to use their energy stores, getting deficient in nutrition and susceptible to disease.
Renovations at the Lewis River hatcheries resulted in raceways that work well if the fish are not held too long. To adapt to the change in the raceways, the department has gone almost entirely to fall releases of spring chinook in hopes of getting better returns.
The smolts released this fall and next spring would return as adults in 2018 and 2019.
Sport fishing for spring chinook in the lower North Fork of the Lewis River has been closed the past two years.
