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Increase Wild Fish Production, Reduce Harvest by John McKern Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, December 23, 2020

I am responding to Chris Pinney’s Sunday letter to the editor.

The only time I was a "poster child" was in 1994 when Idaho Salmon and Steelhead United and their Grim Reaper picketed the ceremony at McNary Dam celebrating the dedication of the new juvenile salmon bypass system. It was a "wanted" poster like they had for several Corps’ employees proclaiming that we were responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of juvenile salmon.

The McNary project manager saved mine for me. Sheriff’s deputies were on hand to greet them. The commander of the Walla Walla District did not find their prank to be funny.

Pinney claims he is fact checking previous letters and U-B opinion articles, but I did not find much factual information in his monologue. He appears disgruntled by "federal fraud" he claims the hydropower agencies are perpetrating. He says that return to the "normative" free-flowing river is the only way to save the salmon.

I am not a fan of damming salmon rivers, but I am a fan of telling the public the truth.

As I have said before, and I will say again, juvenile and adult salmon survival passing the lower Snake River dams is very high. The runs were depleted by the loss of spawning habitat caused by other dams and human impacts upstream, and historic overharvest of the runs in the ocean and rivers.

The fishery agencies, U.S. Corps of Engineers, and other hydropower and irrigation dam builders acquiesced to the greed of developers and relied on fish hatcheries to replace salmon habitat.

The 140-mile lower Snake River was not a significant part of the production area. If anything, few fall Chinook spawned there. Eighty five percent of the fall Chinook spawned above Hells Canyon. Spring/summer Chinook, steelhead, coho and sockeye all spawned in higher, cooler tributaries.

I recently wrote about a study by Kintama Research, Inc. funded by the Bonneville Power Administration. It reported salmon declines from California to Alaska. It noted that more than one undammed river had smolt to adult return rates (SARs) as low or lower than the Snake River.

That proves that the Snake River salmon runs, reduced as they are, are not solely the result of the presence of the lower Snake River dams.

The answer to reaching the magic SARs is increasing wild fish production and controlling harvest to let the adults return.

Related Pages:
Ending Super-Saturation Will Help Salmon by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 4/14/19
Supersaturation is Real Trouble for Salmon by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 12/27/18
Breaching Dams Won't Cool River Water by John McKern, Walla Walla Union Bulletin, 11/8/18
Blaming Snake River Dams for Orca Woes a Hoax by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/14/18
Judge, Court of Appeals Ignored Fish Facts by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 4/8/18
Ending Super-Saturation Will Help Salmon by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 10/18/17
View from Idaho on Dam Protection by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/1/17
Yes, Consider All Facts on Dam Breaching by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 6/30/17
McKern Letter: Salmon Runs by John McKern, Idaho Statesman, 1/2/16
Adult Salmon Survival Past Dams is 99 Percent by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 3/25/15
Hydropower Not Been Replaced by Wind Power by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 3/6/15
Environmentalists Try to Muddy Waters About Dredging by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 12/30/14
Talk of Breaching Snake River Dams a Red Herring by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 3/21/14
Blaming Dams for Fish Loss is a Hoax by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/23/13
Judge Redden's Replacement Can't Be Worse by John McKern, Walla Walla Union Bulletin, 12/5/11
Science Does Not Support Dam Breaching by John McKern, Walla Walla Union Bulletin, 12/19/11