Angling Closes for John Day River Steelhead Due to Low Wild Fish Return; Chinook, Coho Return to Date Not as Grim

Angling for steelhead in central Oregon’s John Day River will close next week because the minimum abundance threshold for wild steelhead has not been met at Bonneville Dam. The count so far this summer is 25 percent short of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s abundance goal that would have allowed the John Day to remain open.The John Day River closure to angling for summer steelhead is just one of many recent salmon and steelhead closures in the mid- and lower Columbia River and its tributaries. Last week the two-state Columbia River Compact closed the lower river downstream of Bonneville Dam to all salmon and steelhead angling due to an apparent overfishing of wild lower river tule Chinook salmon, listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The wild middle Columbia River steelhead in the John Day River is also listed as threatened, as are Snake River wild steelhead.

The John Day River is closed to steelhead angling from the mainline railroad bridge at the mouth upstream to a marker ¼ mile below Tumwater Falls. Also closed to the retention of steelhead from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 this year are the Umatilla River from the Hwy 730 Bridge upriver to Three Mile Falls Dam and the Walla Walla River from the Oregon/Washington border upstream to the confluence between the South and North Forks of the river. “Wild steelhead returns were looking more positive earlier this summer,” said Stephan Charette, ODFW John Day district fish biologist. “Unfortunately, we have since seen wild passage slow down, though numbers are still improved from the record low return observed last year.” If it sounds as if fish returns are lower this year, that’s not entirely true.

Yes, counts of summer steelhead are lower than 10-year averages again this year, but they are higher than the most recent dismal annual returns.Since July 1, the count of steelhead at Bonneville dam totals 84,312 fish, which is 69 percent of the recent 10-year average, but 130 percent of the recent 5-year average. An average of about 1,000 summer steelhead pass the dam daily. According to the Columbia River Compact’s Fall Fact Sheet No. 4, released today, the count is above expectations based on average run timing. Passage of the total run at the dam (July–October) is typically 75 percent complete by Sept. 7 (recent 10-year average).

However, the count of unclipped steelhead since July 1 is just 28,037 fish, which is near the expected passage based on the forecast, the Fact Sheet says. The unclipped run at Bonneville is typically 81 percent complete on Sept. 7 based on 10-year average run timing. Not all unclipped fish are of natural origin (wild). They also include steelhead that were released from upriver hatcheries without a clipped adipose fin.Still, the U.S. v Oregon Technical Advisory Committee, which predicts preseason run sizes and adjusts their run estimates during the season, this week updated its run size estimate for A-run summer steelhead to 94,500 fish, including 66,000 hatchery and 28,500 unclipped fish. As for the closure to steelhead angling in the John Day River, ODFW said that wild steelhead returns, the smolt to adult return ratio, and the proportion of hatchery fish straying into the John Day are all considered when developing seasons and in this case, a closure.

“To meet minimum abundance thresholds for John Day wild steelhead, counts of wild adult steelhead over Bonneville Dam must exceed 35,000 from July 1 through Aug. 31,” ODFW says. “Actual wild steelhead counts over Bonneville this year during that two-month timeframe were approximately 26,200, or about 75 percent of the goal.” However, the Deschutes River in Oregon opened for summer steelhead angling Aug. 15 and remains open. According to ODFW, the passage criteria for opening the Deschutes to steelhead fishing is not as restrictive as the John Day River. Meanwhile, most criteria for Chinook salmon are indicating a banner year.

Some 259,269 adults and 37,738 jack fall Chinook had passed Bonneville as of Sept. 7, which is the fourth highest count to date for adult Chinook in the last 10- years, the Compact’s Fall Fact Sheet No. 4 says. About half are clipped fish, which is less than average. The count is about 127 percent of the 10-year average of 204,313. Passage at the dam is 42 percent complete Sept. 7. Nearly 21,000 fall Chinook passed the dam Sept. 7.The count of adults includes 179,153 adult upriver bright stock fish, 63,338 adult tules and 16,774 “stubby” tules, which the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission staff describes as jack-aged fish that grow to just over the adult size criteria for window counts. Bright stock passage is typically 40 percent complete and Tule passage is typically 65 percent complete on Sept. 7 based on 10-year average run timing.

The Tule passage to date over Bonneville Dam is greater than the total passage projected pre-season. Fall Chinook passage three dams upstream at McNary Dam through Sept. 7 is 39,334, which is lower than the 10-year average of 43,585 fish. The management goal is 60,000 for the season, but the run is just about 19 percent complete at the dam.Spring Creek Hatchery in the Bonneville pool has begun to collect broodstock and has already begun to surplus some fish to collect fish from throughout the run. The adult Chinook count at Lower Granite Dam (Lower Granite is the upstream dam of the four lower Snake River dams) through Sept. 7 is 11,756 fish, nearly twice the 10-year average and the seventh highest count to date on record, the Fact Sheet says.

Still, last week the Compact reluctantly closed the Columbia River to all salmon and steelhead angling downstream of Bonneville Dam. Higher than expected catch, effort, and handle rates of lower Columbia River tule fall Chinook in the Buoy 10 fishery put the recreational fishery over its allowable impact limit for this ESA-listed stock, which is the most constraining salmon stock this time of year. (Non-treaty fisheries remain within their overall impact limits.) At the Sept. 8 Compact meeting, Stuart Ellis of CRITFC explained that there are two main stocks of tule Chinook.

The Bonneville Pool Hatchery stock is not listed under the ESA. The stock includes mostly hatchery fish and a small number of natural origin fish. The other major stock is the lower Columbia River tules, which is downstream and is the constraining stock that forced a closure of all angling in the lower river. Although fisheries managers are uncertain how many of the threatened wild fish may have been caught, they do know the catch rate of lower river hatchery tules, which they consider a surrogate for the number of wild tules caught, Ellis said.

The only constraint on the BPH tules is an escapement goal to the Spring Creek Hatchery upstream of Bonneville and “there is an indication that the BPH stock will be above its limits, he said. Some 30,526 adult coho and 3,042 jack coho have passed Bonneville Dam as of Sept. 7, which is the third highest adult count to date in the last 10-years, but are tracking below the pre-season forecast of 168,700. The passage is about 120 percent of the 10-year average of 24,037 fish. Nearly 3,500 coho adults pass the dam daily.