Northwest Environmental Advocates--Programs: Endangered Species

Salmon

Although the sheer volume of water flowing from the Columbia River Basin to the sea - an average of 150 billion gallons of water daily - is phenomenal, nothing better illustrates the interconnectedness of the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean than the journey of the salmon. River water feeds the ocean where it is evaporated and carried up over the mountains, falling to earth as rain and snow and then returning to the ocean, completing the hydrologic cycle. It is this circle of life that nurtures the extraordinary wild salmon. Salmon, which include Chinook, steelhead, Coho and sockeye, are anadromous (ann-ADD-dro-muss) fish, meaning that they hatch in small, freshwater streams, migrate to the ocean for most of their adult life, and then return to their stream of origin to spawn.

When the explorers Lewis & Clark first traveled the Columbia River in 1805, it supported a run of about 16 million fish each year. Now, over 67 stocks of Columbia River salmon are extinct, 76 others are at risk, and recent runs number about 2.5 million annually. Originally, the mighty flows of the freshets, the annual high run-off in springtime, flushed the young fish down to the ocean in a matter of weeks, often tail first! Now, greatly slowed by the dams, this journey can take as long as three months. The carefully-timed physiological adaptation of the fish from fresh water to salt water now begins prematurely, when they are hundreds of miles from the ocean, making this the primary reason young salmon die before reaching the Pacific. Each dam takes its own toll as well: an estimated 15-30% of young salmon are killed at each dam, by turbine blades, the long fall over the spillway or slow water movement in the reservoirs. Elaborate fish protection screens can lower mortality but they cost up to $75 million each and only half those originally planned have been installed. Desert-spawning salmon from Idaho have the highest mortality rate because they have the furthest journey. Many have to pass eight or more dams to reach the sea. A full 90% fail to reach the estuary, causing them to have been the first stocks listed as threatened and endangered species. The estuary provides critical habitat for juvenile salmon, offering them safety from predators and food while they undergo the changes necessary for ocean life. Disappearing estuary wetlands and water pollution are additional threats to the survival of salmon.

Once they reach the ocean, some salmon stay in near-coastal waters, while others migrate to the far North Pacific. After 1-6 years in the ocean, evading drift nets and predators, salmon begin their journey back upstream. Upon re-entering fresh water, they stop eating and rely on their accumulated fat to return to where they hatched. At each dam, 5-10% of the fish fail to negotiate concrete fish ladders, which are hundreds of feet long. Lack of fish ladders at the Chief Joseph and Hells Canyon Dams ensure that the upper main stems of the Columbia and Snake Rivers are now completely blocked to fish passage, thereby cutting off the largest part of original spawning habitat. Incredibly, Bonneville Dam's original design had no provision for fish passage, a blunder that would have resulted in the overnight extinction of the majority of the Pacific Northwest salmon. After this harsh journey, the few salmon to reach their spawning grounds are likely to find them degraded or destroyed from forestry or grazing.

Electric ratepayers have spent nearly one billion dollars, and the federal government has spent millions, on efforts to reverse the process of extinction of the Columbia River salmon, for which the government is in large part responsible. Most of this money has been spent on fish passage facilities and fish hatcheries. Hatcheries now produce 80% of the returning salmon and steelhead in the Basin. The hatcheries, while providing a convenient subsidy for commercial and sport fishing interests, pose a serious threat to the long-term viability of wild salmon because of inferior genetic make-up and exposure to diseases. In an ultimate mockery of nature's ecological wisdom, the Army Corps of Engineers annually trucks 20 million salmon downstream around the 8 dams that block their passage to the Pacific.

133 SW 2^nd Ave., Portland, OR 97204-3526 (503) 295-0490 FAX 295-6634