Claims of Trinity River Salmon Run Decimation Off Base

Claims of Trinity River Salmon Run Decimation Off Base

by Patrick Higgins

The Internet was abuzz in late October and early November with claims that
this year’s Trinity River fall Chinook salmon runs were cut off by Hoopa
Tribe fishermen and there was some coverage of this in the local press. It
would appear that the source of the rumor was fishing guides new to the
Trinity River who didn’t know that the salmon run peaks earlier there than
in the Sacramento River, where the guides would normally fish. The
Internet rumor mill can be vicious and difficult to respond to, but
luckily in this case there is a source of scientific information so that
the public can check the allegations.

Data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Arcata on Trinity River
fall Chinook is now available
(http://www.fws.gov/arcata/fisheries/projectUpdates.html) and show the guide’s
hypothesis that this year’s run was intercepted by gill nets is false.
Salmon nest or redd counts in 2009 were the highest recorded since 2002.
The total number of spring and fall Chinook adult fish spawning in the
wild was in the tens of thousands throughout the system, including
tributaries, and thousands of fish returned to the Trinity River Hatchery.
This robust return was expected since ocean fishing has been completely
shut for two years due to the Sacramento-San Joaquin fall Chinook stock
collapse.

The Hoopa and Yurok Tribes both have quotas for their catch, and it is
many thousands of fish in some years, but the numbers are calculated by
fisheries managers and tribes abide by allocations. The Hoopa, Yurok,
Karuk and other tribes are also co-managers of the Klamath-Trinity Basin
fisheries resources and are constantly working to insure that freshwater
conditions perpetuate a harvestable surplus (http://www.klamathwaterquality.com).

We in this region understand the major victory the Hoopa Tribe won for us
all by increasing Trinity flows from the pitiful 10% of runoff we had been
allocated, and that is why there are salmon and steelhead for us and the
tribes to catch. The guides should turn some of that heat and energy into
getting more water through the San Francisco Bay Delta before the fish
that is their “meat and potatoes”, the mighty Sacramento fall Chinook run,
goes extinct.

A note to the folks who started the rumor mill, if you are coming to fish
our rivers until your runs can be rebuilt, please be respectful of Indian
rights to fish and appreciate their role in protecting the resource. Also
know that North Coast residents support them and their Treaty Rights and
feel enriched by living in an area with peoples with such long cultural
relationship to this place. They have lived in harmony and balance with
the salmon for at least 10,000 years and our goal here is to help them
maintain that tradition as far as possible into the future.

By Patrick Higgins
Consulting Fisheries Biologist
791 Eighth Street, Suite N
Arcata, CA 95521
W 707 822-9428
phiggins [at] humboldt1.com