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Snake Salmon Die 'by 1,000 Cuts' by Edward A. Lisowski Tri-City Herald, July 12, 2023

A "dog and pony show" warning of dangers
of breaching the four lower Snake River dams

I attended the recent field hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee on the importance of Eastern Washington's Lower Snake River dams. Rep. Dan Newhouse's invitation promised "experts in fish and science, power and transmission, navigation and transportation, and food, irrigation, and trade." Instead I witnessed a "dog and pony show" warning of dangers of breaching the four lower Snake River dams.

I hoped for a discussion of why Columbia River salmon and steelhead have not returned to historic, pre-dam numbers despite the investment of over $1 billion to improve fish survival. Several panelists suggested that it is not the dams but rather ocean conditions that cause the low salmon return rates.

One panelist mentioned bass fishing is popular in Lewiston. Dams create reservoirs that require ocean-bound smolts to pass from a cold water river through warm-water pools where they are exposed to predation by bass, walleye and crappie. A recent study estimated that 300,373 juvenile Chinook salmon were lost to smallmouth bass predation in the upper portion of Lower Granite Reservoir over a three-year period.

"Death by a thousand cuts" is a good description of the current fate of Columbia River salmon and steelhead.