I appreciate the discussion and advocacy for restoration and improved hatchery output. However, I don't understand his logic on the lack of salmon-derived nutrients in the water impacting steelhead size. Even in other parts of the NW, steelhead smolts are only 6-8 inches when migrating to the ocean, and returning steelhead don't gain size in the rivers. Thus the vast majority of steelhead growth is achieved in the ocean. So I'm guessing, like he says, the steelhead in these rivers are early returners and haven't grown as large in the ocean. Or perhaps their ocean habitat is different than NW steelhead with less food availability for growth. Neither of which is caused by less salmon in the rivers.

@AnglerWestTV

7 ай бұрын

Good observation. What you are talking about was not made clear in the video. It's a numbers game. Because a relatively small number of smolts go to the ocean, only a few return as 3-5 year old adults. Most of the Sacramento River steelhead don't have the opportunity to return to the ocean after their first trip back to the hatchery. So, we see mostly the 1 or 2 year old fish in the river.

@HeyUncleA

7 ай бұрын

Think of it this way… where ever the salmon die the plants and animals thrive. No salmon means the environment isn’t getting a ton of nutrients and is missing a major food source for various forms of life. The salmon have been feeding the trees and animals for millions of years and now that has been stopped; so the habitat isn’t healthy or is actively dying.

@jimsomerville3924

6 ай бұрын

Interesting thank you.

@brianjohnston4207

5 ай бұрын

​@@HeyUncleAthe problem here in the Puget Sound region is urbanization. The urbanization is reaching further and further up the watersheds creating rooftops, pollution and concrete where water cooling and filtering Salmon and Steelhead beneficial forests use to line the watersheds. You can increase the nutrients all you want but when the habitat and other creatures that were fed by the nutrients of returning are gone its increasingly more difficult to support the next generation of anadramous fish. The water is toxic, the river's are channeled and the water is laden with chemicals and jettisoned off of the land as soon as it falls. There's no water storage on the land feeding the streams throughout the year and more and more water is being pumped out of the ground. It's scary to think of the hydrological disruption alone but there's many more factors that have a profound effect on juvenile salmon and Steelhead survival and spawning success of anadramous fish.

Remember the giant redwoods and how they were found to haveOmega 3 in there trunk rings Hello?

Luckily last springs big runoff will put a breath of life back into the chinook run. Sounds like the commercial moratorium in the salt might have been too little too late for this years run. Big changes coming to Kalamath basin so its not all doom and gloom. There's been a little talked about project up here in eastern WA that will be a cornerstone to reintroduce salmon into the Spokane river and other upper Columbia tributaries. Keep your heads up and your lines tight🎣

Until the stranglehold! That Big Ag! has on everyones water fish and all the rest of us are left to bottomfeed 😢

I would say the over abundance of non native stripers are a huge contributor to the situation.

@HeyUncleA

7 ай бұрын

You and a bunch of others too. The problem is the spawning habitat is gone, dying, or blocked by a dam. American river salmon for example used to travel up into the mountains hundreds of miles and would spawn all along the way. Now they have from Sacramento to Folsom. No place to spawn or reproduce will ruin pretty much any form of life. They were fine for millions of years and people screwed it up in a couple hundred years. A renewable resource worth billions a year that could feed all the hungry people and would likely continue to thrive until the end of time is being wasted.

It’s unfortunate what is happening because of the Tycoons in commercial fishing. The oceans are basically being depleted of all fish.

Yeah idk about the logic of losing one run of salmon causing a cascading effect...... If that were the case we'd see similar situation play out on the Columbia. Stealhead might depend some on the salmon nutritification but again the B run steelhead on the snake river are the biggest steelhead on the Columbia and snake system. Plenty of salmon run issues on the snake. No doubt nutrification helps though!

@395glen

6 ай бұрын

He is not getting to the root of the issue. He should be asking why was any run declining in the first place. Instead he is trying to connect imaginary dots by saying well since one is declining then that’s why the others decline because of that one. Rather they are all declining for possibly the same reason. Habitat loss

I’ve been thinking about this up here in the PNW. Do the salmon and steelhead smolts, along with the health of the rivers and streams, need the nutrients from salmon carcasses specifically? Or just nutrients from ocean going fish?

@AnglerWestTV

7 ай бұрын

The salmon are like nutrient vessels carrying nutrients from the ocean back to the rivers. Do you mean catch other fish in the ocean and dump them in the rivers?

@adamboley5928

7 ай бұрын

​@@AnglerWestTVall I know is that I would really like to see carcasses being deposited on banks from hatcheries become commonplace enough that when areas are doing it that's not considered a special program. Kudos to everyone who participates in it but we need more. Even the most anti hatchery people would concede that it helps wild fish too. Or so you would hope.

@kcp7042

7 ай бұрын

@@AnglerWestTV exactly. I am not a biologist. And I may catch an average amount of salmon. But every late spring, I become an expert Shad fisherman!! Which is an ocean going fish. Could Shad carcasses feed the smolt and add nutrients for the ecosystem?

Remove the dams or build ladders over them. Allow the fish access to their native spawning grounds. Salmon were fine for millions of years before people blocked all their spawning grounds. How can any form of life thrive when you stop them from breeding and block them from spawning grounds?

@brianjohnston4207

5 ай бұрын

Well I'll tell you while I do agree in the end dams definitely need to go but I don't agree with removing the newest fish friendly dams that were built long after the dozens of dams on the system that caused the extinction in the first place. Dams that create slackwater pools and have no fish passage should go first. But don't be fooled on the exaggerated recovery progress on the Elwah a decade later and the river isn't even healthy enough to hold the same fisheries as urban rivers in Puget Sound with dams on them.

Yea but what does the steelhead derive from?

@395glen

6 ай бұрын

Derive? Not sure if you are asking what steelhead nourish themselves with or literally where they derive from. 2 separate topics. Steelhead nourish themselves from the ocean just like salmon would.

I was shown a recent video of the Mokelumne River below Camanche Dam in California. The salmon were bank to bank! Everywhere the camera panned, there were salmon! It was just like years ago! And Ive been told that it's been like this on the Sacramento, Feather,and American Rivers. A video on the Facebook page for the Coleman National Fish Hatchery shows salmon swarming in Battle Creek. The salmon look like they're making a major comeback this year,and I think that it's mostly due to the great winter we had, and the total closure of commercial salmon fishing. Perhaps it time to permanently close all commercial salmon fishing on the entire West Coast? With the exception of Alaska (for now,anyway) commercial salmon fishing on the West Coast no longer seems sustainable, and it should be either ended, or highly restricted as to how many fish may be harvested by commercials,with mandatory catch inspections at every port, and hefty fines for those who take more than they are allowed by law. Thia is the only way to protect salmon stocks, as hatcheries are not the answer!

@AnglerWestTV

7 ай бұрын

Yes, that hatchery has been pumping out the smolt. Here's a little bit about that hatchery. The science-driven hatchery management program by EBMUD and CDFW includes operations that support ocean fisheries and natural spawning on the river. When the season is complete and full data is available, experts will determine which strategies contributed most to the success on the Mokelumne, given some rivers are experiencing low returns, as has the Mokelumne in previous years. Long-term strategies include: Habitat enhancement to improve natural river spawning and rearing, in partnership with both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Anadromous Fish Restoration Program and the CDFW. Flow management, including pulse flows from EBMUD’s Camanche Reservoir into the river to attract returning fish; coordination with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to close the Delta Cross Channel to reduce straying; and management of the Camanche cold water pool to support spawning, incubation, and rearing. Hatchery management, including investments in chillers and ultraviolet filters to improve egg survival; collaboration on the release of juvenile fish; and management of the fish ladder leading into the hatchery. Statewide closure of California’s 2023 commercial and recreational salmon fishing season to protect the Central Valley fall-run Chinook population; the commercial and recreational salmon fishing fleet, which funds the production of ocean enhancement fish at the hatchery, forewent the season and contributed to this year’s success.

@rkygriz

7 ай бұрын

@@AnglerWestTV Thanks for the great reply! Love your show! Keep it coming! Angler West TV rocks!