Initial data reports acquired this week from state fisheries agencies demonstrate that the Chinook Salmon run on the lower Yuba River may be at a record low. According to the Department of Fish and Game, which monitors adult salmon migrations on the Yuba River via a fish counting technology installed on the fish ladders at Daguerre Point Dam, the total number of salmon migrating above Daguerre Dam in the month of September was 38 individuals, less than 5% of the total count for September in four previous years of survey by the same technology (September 2003 passage was 3842 salmon).
September is the first of three big spawning months for Fall-Run Chinook, which begin migrating into the Yuba River in August. The Fall Run tends to taper by December. Adult Chinook salmon return to the Yuba River to spawn and complete their life cycle after approximately 3 to 5 years roaming the north Pacific Ocean.
"These September figures are alarmingly low, and far below the natural range of variability for healthy populations. This does not bode well for the Yuba's wild stocks of Chinook Salmon. We're hopeful that we'll get a big bounce in October and November, but the trend indicates a catastrophic year for Yuba salmon," says Gary Reedy, a fisheries biologist for the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL).
Reedy adds: "Recovery planners for Central Valley fisheries were already concerned that the Yuba's wild Spring-Run Chinook salmon are dangerously close to extinction. Now we need to look more closely at the threats to all Yuba salmon and what it will take to recover these populations."
SYRCL is hosting a free public forum and multi-media presentation on Wednesday, October 24th at 6:00pm at the Miners Foundry in downtown Nevada City entitled the Yuba Salmon Town Hall Meeting to address the status, threats and opportunities for protecting and restoring the Yuba's wild salmon. The event will be moderated by SYRCL Executive Director Jason Rainey. Invited presenters and panelists include representatives from fisheries agencies, local and national river conservation organizations, local tribes, and water managers.
"Whether we want this responsibility or not, as citizens of this region at this time, we need to ask ourselves how much we value healthy rivers connected to the ocean through the life cycle of salmon. We have a unique, yet urgent, opportunity to mend our relationship with salmon," states Jason Rainey, SYRCL Executive Director. "Otherwise we run the very real risk of sending Central Valley salmon into extinction, severing this cycle that links the Sierra Nevada to the Pacific Ocean, and facing the consequences of our collective inaction. The Yuba Salmon Town Hall meeting will initiate a community dialogue on this issue. Please bring your children."
SYRCL is a grassroots river advocacy organization that has been active in Yuba salmon issues for over a decade. Currently, SYRCL is a signatory to a statement of support to the Fisheries Agreement of the Proposed Lower Yuba Accord, negotiated with Yuba County Water Agency and over a dozen interested parties and state and federal officials. The Accord would require YCWA to meet in-stream flow requirements that are more protective of salmon and steelhead, as well as ensuring that a portion of revenue from water sales funds fisheries management on the lower Yuba River.
SYRCL, joined by Friends of the River, has also filed suit in federal court against the Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service and Yuba County Water Agency for alleged failures to protect and recover the Spring-run Chinook Salmon, Steelhead trout and green sturgeon of the Yuba River, all of which are listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act.
For more information about SYRCL go to www.syrcl.org.
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