Only Four Snake River Sockeye Return in 2007

Fish have been listed under Endangered Species Act since 1991

The 2007 Snake River sockeye migration is officially over, and the results are grim: Only four fish returned this year to Redfish Lake near Stanley, Idaho. Four fish. The last arrived on August 26.

Historically each fall, thousands of sockeye would swim back 900 miles, from the mouth of the Pacific Ocean in Astoria, Oregon, to the eponymous lake in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to spawn and die, climbing more than 6500 feet in elevation in the process. That’s about the same distance as Houston to Chicago, or New Orleans to Cleveland. Add to that the elevation gain of 6500 feet (about the equivalent of five Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other) and it is an amazing journey indeed.

Traveling further and higher than any other sockeye in the world, Snake River salmon must also navigate past and through eight dams and the slackwater reservoirs they create. This year, only about 50 sockeye made it as far as Lower Granite Dam, on the Snake River in southeastern Washington, the eighth and final dam these fish must navigate on their way home to central Idaho, and the fourth on the lower Snake River. From Lower Granite, at 700 feet and 430 miles inland, the fish still must climb over 6,000 feet in elevation and travel 462 more miles before reaching Redfish Lake.

Despite being protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1991, only 15 sockeye made it past the Lower Granite in 2006, and just three returned to Redfish Lake.

Sockeye first faced extinction almost a century ago when Sunbeam Dam was built on the Salmon River in 1910. When the dam was removed in 1931, Snake River sockeye rebounded to 1,500 returning spawners by 1955.

However, After four dams on the Lower Snake River were built in the 1960s and 1970s, the population dropped off dramatically again. In 1992, a sockeye dubbed "Lonesome Larry" was the sole male fish who returned.

In 2005, 23 sockeye were seen at Lower Granite Dam, and only six returned to the Sawtooth Valley. In 2006, that number dropped to three.

Idaho Fish and Game attributes the slight increase this year to larger numbers of hatchery sockeye that were released as out migrating juveniles in 2005.

(Sockeye Watch courtesy of Idaho Rivers United.)