Smaller Sockeye Run Seen in Stanley Basin

As expected, this year's run of endangered sockeye salmon is far smaller than last year's. Fish and Game fisheries biologists count 13 adult sockeye have made it all the way back into the Stanley Basin with three more holding below the Sawtooth weir, for a total of 16 so far. Biologists expect about 35 before the current run ends. The unofficial count of sockeye crossing Lower Granite Dam, the last hydro hurdle before salmon return to Idaho, is 50. Last year's run of 257 adults came from a 1998 downriver smolt run of 143,000. Only 49,800 juvenile sockeye left Idaho for the Pacific Ocean in 1999, so the size of the current run is no surprise to biologists. The 13 trapped adults are being temporarily held at the Sawtooth Hatchery. Based on genetic evaluations that are being run now, biologists will decide if any of these fish are critical to the captive-breeding program. Those fish not selected for hatchery spawning will be released to lakes in the Stanley Basin to spawn naturally. This year, Idaho will also have about 100 hatchery-produced adults that have spent their full lives in the hatchery to release for natural spawning. Of the 13 adults back so far, two are age five fish released as smolts in 1998, part of the primary group that returned as adults last year. Eight are from Sawtooth Hatchery rearing programs, and three were produced in Redfish Lake from adults planted to spawn or from eggs planted in the lake. The sockeye captive broodstock program is a cooperative effort involving the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, National Marine Fisheries Service, and the University of Idaho. Funding is provided by the Bonneville Power Administration.