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Fish & Politics Along the South Fork by Michael Wells The Star-News, July 21, 2011

Chinook anglers debate the merits of breaching Snake River dams

James Tone, 46, of Ft. Hall, has fished the South Fork of the Salmon River for the past 25 years.

When a fish is on the line or at the end of his spear, he does not care if it is a hatchery fish or wild fish, but he would rather catch native fish from sustainable runs.

"If it was up to me, I would get rid of all the dams," said Tone, a Shoshone Bannock tribe member.

Most anglers lining the banks of the South Fork who talked to The Star-News on Sunday wanted the four lower Snake River dams in Washington breached to improve salmon runs.

Those interviewed said breaching was the most important thing that could be done to improve salmon runs in Idaho, but most said they realized breaching would likely never happen.

This year's South Fork summer Chinook salmon fishing season was later than usual.

The time anglers had to fish with salmon actually in the river was about as short as any other year, which had some anglers wishing for better ways to bring back more salmon to Idaho.

This year's adult summer Chinook salmon fishing season ended Wednesday on the South Fork, which gave anglers about nine days of decent fishing before fisheries managers closed the season.

The decision was mad after 700 of the to1,100 allotted hatchery adult fish were caught by anglers through Monday.

Fishing for smaller jack Chinook salmon is still open on the river from about one mile upstream of Fourmile Campground upstream to the posted boundary near McCall hatchery fish weir.

Fish Ladders at the Least

Mike McKinsey, 37, of Nampa, had never conceived of the possibility of sustainable wild populations of salmon in Idaho's rivers. He grew up in Grangeville fishing hatchery-bred runs his whole life.

McKinsey would like to see more dams removed than just the four lower Snake River dams in Washington.

He would like to see the Hells Canyon dams and Black Canyon dam breached or, at the very least, he would like to see fish ladders installed on those dams to begin restoring salmon and steelhead runs.

"I would like to see the dams removed just so we could have runs on the Payette and Weiser and some of these other drainages," McKinsey said.

Tim Wells, 50, of Nampa, did not care if he was catching hatchery or wild fish, but he would rather the dams were breached.

"It would be better for fishing," Wells said.

Jason Dahms, 42, of Eagle, was putting his first catch of the day, a hatchery Chinook salmon, into a cooler.

Dahms has fished the South Fork since he was seven years old. He thought breaching was a "pipe dream."

"It would be nice if they figured something out for bigger runs," Dahms said.

Nathanial Small, 25, of Ft. Hall, and a member of the Shoshone Bannock Tribe, thinks wild fish are more important than hatchery fish.

"The more wild fish we have the better off the race will be," Small said. "We need to have them here forever rather than disappear. There's nothing wrong with hatchery fish, but we need more wild fish."

Wild Fish Healthier

Kerwin Toane, 42, of Ft. Hall, and a Shoshone Bannock Tribe member, had snagged seven salmon on Sunday through mid-afternoon.

He did not believe the dams would ever be removed, but if they were it would "definitely improve the fishery."

Toane thinks the wild fish are healthier now than when he started fishing the South Fork in the mid 1990s.

Steve Wieber, 64, of Lewiston, has fished for salmon for 50 years in Idaho and does not want to see the four lower Snake River dams breached.

"What (the hatcheries and other salmon restoration efforts) are doing is really working," Wieber said. "They've brought the salmon back. The hatchery is definitely working and it's working well."

Wieber acknowledged that reline on hatchery fish solely could lead to extinction in a short amount of time and that wild fish were important. But he did not think dam removal is the answer to sustainable salmon runs in Idaho.

"If you stop the commercial slaughtering of fish in Oregon, somehow regulate our fish to allow our fish to get up here, problem solved," Wieber said. "I would neve take the dams out to solve the salmon problem."

He suggest allowing Native Americans to take their share of the fish a The Dalles Dam in Oregon and to stop allowing Native Americans to also take wild salmon.

Related Pages:
Survival of Snake River Salmon & Steelhead Data compiled July 2004 by www.bluefish.org