Oregon Tests Hatchboxes to Reintroduce Chum Salmon in Clatskanie River

State fishery managers are utilizing a small, streamside incubation system to assist convey chum salmon again to a tributary of the Clatskanie River in northwest Oregon.

ODFW not too long ago put in a hatchbox system alongside the stream in an effort to reintroduce chum salmon to the watershed. The undertaking was first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting.

The system consists of six giant barrels, three that filter stream water and three that maintain trays of fertilized salmon eggs. As water flows by the containers, it retains the eggs oxygenated whereas defending them from predators.

When the eggs hatch, often in January, the younger fish are flushed immediately into the stream.

Tom Stahl, a fish biologist with ODFW, mentioned hatchboxes are a value efficient technique to increase salmon numbers in waterways that not assist wild runs.

“There are not any chum right here,” Stahl mentioned. “We need to reintroduce them. This offers us a approach to do this with out impacting current wild fish.”

Hatchboxes had been as soon as widespread throughout Oregon and had been often utilized in colleges to show college students in regards to the salmon life cycle. Their use declined through the years as issues grew about hatchery fish competing with wild salmon and the truth that hatchbox fish are launched at a a lot smaller dimension than these from conventional hatcheries.

aAnother concern is that hatchbox fish are usually not marked, which means they can’t be distinguished from wild salmon as soon as they return to spawn.

Nonetheless, tribal leaders and state officers say hatchboxes can play a job in areas the place salmon runs have almost disappeared.

Brenda Meade, chair of the Coquille Tribe, mentioned drastic declines in fall Chinook returns compelled managers to think about each obtainable instrument. Returns on the Coquille River dropped from roughly 10,000 fish in 2017 to simply three brood pairs by 2020.

“They had been calling it close to extinction ranges,” Meade mentioned. “It was devastating.”

A number of elements contributed to the decline, together with warming water temperatures, low flows, poor habitat and altering ocean circumstances. One main difficulty was the introduction of smallmouth bass into the watershed, a predator identified to eat juvenile salmon.

In response, the tribe and its companions started eradicating bass utilizing electrofishing boats and incentive based mostly fishing derbies.

The Oregon Legislature additionally took motion this 12 months by passing Senate Bill 221, which directs ODFW to encourage and research new hatchbox initiatives in Coos County. Whereas the Clatskanie hatchbox shouldn’t be a part of that invoice, ODFW plans to observe outcomes as related initiatives transfer ahead.

Stahl mentioned the aim is to judge whether or not hatchboxes can meaningfully improve salmon returns over time.

“These fish will probably be out within the ocean for a number of years earlier than they return,” he mentioned. “It’s going to take endurance, however we’ll be watching carefully.”

Keith Lusher

Keith Lusher is an award-winning outside journalist who resides in Covington, Louisiana. He owns and operates NorthshoreFishingReport.com and writes a weekly outside column for the Slidell Unbiased Newspaper. He additionally writes for the St.Tammany Parish Tourism Fee’s VisitTheNorthshore.com. He’s the previous host of The Northshore Fishing Report Radio Present and is on the board of the Louisiana Outside Writers Affiliation. Keith contributes to quite a few publications each on-line and in print and prides himself on selling South Louisiana’s distinctive fishery. To contact Keith e-mail: keithlusherjr@gmail.com