the Tailout May 2020 tailout_may2020finalx | Page 16

A hatchery worker checks the raceways
at Coleman National Fish Hatchery,
where approximately 200,000 winter-run
chinook salmon were housed prior to their
release into Battle Creek on the upper
Sacramento River.
The strong returns and repro-
duction of California’s winter-run
chinook salmon this year stand out
against low salmon and steelhead
returns to other major West Coast riv-
ers such as the Columbia. Fishermen
also reported one of their biggest
catches of Sacramento fall-run chi-
nook salmon off the California Coast
in years.
Winter-run chinook salmon
historically returned to spawn in the
cold mountain rivers of Northern
California. Completion of Shasta
Dam in 1945 cut off that long-dis-
tance migration. The fish were then
forced to spawn in the exposed main
channel of the Sacramento River
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SALMON
& STEELHEAD JOURNAL
THE TAILOUT
below the dam, far from their historic
cold-water habitat. They spawn in the
summer where they are vulnerable to
high temperatures that can stress and
kill their eggs.
Biologists and water managers
coordinate the storage and release
of cold water behind Shasta Dam to
cool the river downstream. This helps
the fish and their eggs survive the hot
summer months. After the losses in
2014 and 2015, they took additional
measures in 2016 to conserve the cold
water for use later in the summer.
The single remaining population
of Sacramento River winter-run
chinook salmon has persisted in large
part due to managed seasonal cold
water releases from Shasta Reservoir.
They protect sensitive salmon eggs
from the summer heat. Their sur-
vival is supported by the release of
juvenile winter-run chinook salmon
from Livingston Stone National Fish
Hatchery.
“It is encouraging to see an in-
crease in the number of winter-run
juveniles moving down the Sacra-
mento River this year,” said Dan Cas-
tleberry, Assistant Regional Director
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
in Sacramento. “Combined with
efforts to establish an additional pop-
ulation of winter-run in Battle Creek,
we are making positive steps towards
recovering this iconic fish.”