Hitting the rivers to go fishing is at a standstill for days to come, but many are wondering about young salmon survival because of massive flooding.
"This is an especially bad situation like the flooding that happened in [November] 2007, and we're having the same problems of scouring eggs on spawning grounds, and loss of juvenile fish survival," said Jeff Haymes, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. "It seems like now we're getting these 100-year type floods every other year, which is not good. These floods will dig a big hole for several years.
"This was supposed to be a La Niña kind of year, and then it snapped back to something like an El Niño weather pattern, at least for the time being."
Some of the severe impact on fish survival is in Southwest Washington.
"The worst damage happened from Woodland north in places like Chehalis, Kalama and Kelso," said Joe Hymer, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. "Depending on the salmon species, and when and where they spawned, I am sure it will have an impact.
"We had fairly low water conditions this past fall so some fish probably spawned in the main river channels and that will make those eggs in the gravel more vulnerable. The local hatcheries on the Lower Columbia got drilled pretty hard, although it sounds like they survived, but it was nip and tuck for a while."
The situation around Aberdeen and Grays Harbor looked grim as well.
"Everything was flooded like the Wynoochee, Satsop and all the smaller rivers," said Scott Barbour, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist. "Most of the coho and chinook redds are down in the gravel, and I imagine there would be some scouring of eggs. There are still [migrating] coho to come, but this will do damage to chinook redds for sure. It is pretty nasty."
Locally, it appears that the outlying areas of Seattle got slammed, and likely damaged some salmon and steelhead spawning grounds.
"This kind of situation is lousy for the spawning beds, and for all the chinook and sockeye eggs that are in the gravel," said Steve Foley, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist who assessed the Cedar River. "I heard the hatchery is going to be OK at Landsburg."
While the hatchery at Landsburg escaped substantial damage, the Lower Cedar juvenile fish trap was lost and then recovered from Lake Washington with some damage. The other trap in the Lower Cedar River was taken out of the water with some damage.
Further north, it looks like some rivers could feel the loss of future salmon runs.
In general, these types of floodwaters don't do much good for young chinook, steelhead and coho," said Brett Barkdull, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist who covers areas from Skagit River north to the Canadian border. "It displaces the juvenile fish, and gets them stranded in places where they shouldn't be. What affect it will have on them in the long term and how much loss is hard to say at this point.
"The Nooksack and Stillaguamish got hit pretty bad, and this is going to really have impact, mainly on chinook and chum there. And to some extent the coho may get away a little better because they tend to spawn in smaller streams."
Barkdull pointed out that the Upper Skagit River escaped flooding problems, and all the northern hatchery facilities were doing fine.
"I talked with our hatchery complex manager and we survived at all the facilities, and the fish are alive and doing fine," said Barkdull of the Marblemount, Baker, Kendall, Whatcom Creek and Lake Whatcom hatcheries.
Other local hatcheries may have taken a worse hit from this latest storm.
"The Tokul Creek [Hatchery] was a mess, they're taking it hour by hour, and we're looking at releasing [150,00 juvenile steelhead] early," said Annette Hoffman, a state Fish and Wildlife fish program manager. "The staff [at the Arlington Hatchery] had some concern, but were working hard on their issues, and were planning on moving fish to other ponds for the time being. They planned to release [some 80,000 trout] early into local lakes if necessary."
The Whitehorse Hatchery was pretty much an island. The Soos Creek Facility took on a considerable amount of water, and there was also some issues at Voights Creek as well.
"It doesn't sound too great for our hatcheries and this may bring on high mortality losses along with low releases in the future," said Chad Jackson, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist.
Capt. Jerry Brown
Columbia River Fishing
http://www.columbia-river-fishing-guide.com
206-920-2428
