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Snake River Steelhead Returns Highest in Seven Years by Matthew Weaver Capital Press, November 5, 2024

The reason counts are higher this year compared to the recent average
is due to the extremely low returns of steelhead from 2017–2023.

Annual steelhead returns in the Snake River are the highest they've been since 2017 but still below recovery goals, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game official says.

More than 100,000 steelhead are likely to pass through Lower Granite Dam in 2024, the department reports on its website. But the reason counts are higher this year is linked to the extremely low returns from 2017 to 2023.

Lower Granite is the last of eight dams that steelhead cross before entering Idaho waters. Fisheries managers have not only seen higher than average counts at Lower Granite Dam this year, but also larger fish since many spent two years in the ocean, according to the department.

Lower Granite and the other three dams on the lower Snake River have been the target of legal challenges for decades, with environmental groups and Tribes calling for them to be breached, saying their removal will allow the return of more wild, endangered fish populations.

Agricultural groups support salmon recovery, but most argue dam breaching is being held out as a silver bullet but isn't certain to work. Breaching will also have negative economic and environmental impacts on the region.

"The increased return is a good sign but let's not declare victory yet," said Tim Copeland, manager of the wild salmon and steelhead monitoring program for the department. "There are some dangers to being too fixed on one particular number."

The goal for steelhead return at Lower Granite Dam is 277,400, Copeland said, citing a report from the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NOAA Fisheries. The current count at the dam for 2024 as of Nov. 3 is 98,181.

Runs of Snake River steelhead come out of the Pacific Ocean mostly from August to October, and some will spend the winter downstream before moving toward their origin to spawn, Copeland said.

Final numbers won't be known until next spring.

"Preliminary data indicate about 20% of these fish are likely wild," Copeland said. "We won't know for sure until sample collection is complete and the genetics analyzed."

Preliminary analysis will be done this winter and then updated once spring samples have been collected and analyzed.

Fish goals

Goals for hatchery returns at Lower Granite are over 130,000, Copeland said.

That level has been achieved 10 times. The last was the 2011-2012 run.

The goal for wild fish is 147,300, which hasn't been achieved since Ice Harbor Dam was built.

"However, escapement at Lower Granite has exceeded the number thought necessary to meet Endangered Species Act delisting criteria -- 30,800 -- seven times, most recently the 2015-2016 run," Copeland said. "This is a low bar meant to keep the probability of extinction low and is not really a management goal.

"...Things are improving but we are still a long way from where we would like to be," Copeland said.