Council urges parties to ensure that fall Chinook transportation study continues

February 21, 2007

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council today urged the federal, state, and tribal parties involved in an ongoing study of Snake River fall Chinook salmon survival to reallocate sufficient numbers of fish so that the study can continue in 2007. A shortage of juvenile fish produced this year due to insufficient broodstock collection in fall of 2006 threatens to sidetrack the study, which began as a pilot study last year.

“This study addresses a critically important issue in the effort to increase the production of Snake River fall Chinook, a threatened species — whether we should continue to put fish in barges or leave them in the river,” Council Chair Tom Karier said. “It would be truly unfortunate to lose a year of data, given the amount of time, effort, and expense that already has gone into this study.”

Meeting by conference call today in a special session, the Council approved a letter (40k PDF) to the parties involved in the ongoing U.S. v. Oregon litigation, which is overseen by the U.S. District Court of Oregon. Under terms of the litigation, the parties annually agree on how many adult salmon will be collected for broodstock purposes and how many will be allowed to spawn in the wild. The parties also agree on how the progeny of the captured fish will be apportioned to 17 separate purposes in the coming year. For 2007, because of the lower-than-anticipated return of adult fish in 2006 and the subsequent juvenile fish production, there are only enough fish for the first nine priorities. The transport study has a lower priority, but the parties could agree to move it up.

In its letter, the Council comments: “The Corps of Engineers’ study began last year and will need several more years of results before it can reach valid conclusions. In the near term, we are asking you to support the implementation of this study and consider reallocating sufficient numbers of surrogate fish so that the study can go forward this year.” The Council identified the fall Chinook transport study as important in amendments to its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program in 2003. The study also is identified as an important action in the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service’s 2000 and 2004 Biological Opinions on operations of the Snake and Columbia River federal hydropower dams.

Since 2005, the Bonneville Power Administration, which funds the Council’s fish and wildlife program, has invested more than $4 million in projects that aim specifically at Snake River fall Chinook — $2.1 million to improve an adult fish trap at Lower Granite Dam and the same amount for a fish production program operated by the Nez Perce Tribe at two sites on the Snake River and one site on the Clearwater River.

“Through these efforts, the region is making progress toward the recovery of Snake River fall Chinook,” Karier said. “But if this progress is to continue, there exists the very real need to determine, under varying river conditions, whether transportation or inriver migration is most beneficial to fish survival.”

In its letter, the Council also urged the federal Action Agencies (Bonneville, the Corps of Engineers, NOAA Fisheries) and the U.S. v Oregon parties to collaborate and agree on a long-term design for the transport study to ensure this important evaluation continues in the future. The Council also encourages all the parties to submit the long-term study design for independent scientific review.

The Council is an agency of the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington and is directed by the Northwest Power Act of 1980 to prepare a program to protect, mitigate and enhance fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin affected by hydropower dams while also assuring the region an adequate, efficient, economical and reliable power supply.

Contacts:

• , Chair, 509-623-4386
• , Information Officer, 503-222-5161