By Kyle Smith, Oregon Field Coordinator Over 50 wild steelhead advocates turned out last Friday for a meeting of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission in support of a petition that would have enacted emergency rules to prohibit harvest of wild steelhead in the southwest corner of the state. After almost five hours of public testimony, with the majority in …
An update on the Skagit steelhead fishery and implications for the Olympic Peninsula
By John McMillan Although winter steelhead season has begun, between the rain and snow those of us living in Washington haven’t had much of a chance to hit the rivers. That is by definition winter steelheading, however, and we wouldn’t love it so much if the weather and river flows were perfect all the time. Whether drifting or banking it, …
ODFW Commission to vote on harvest of wild steelhead in Southwest Zone
By Kyle Smith For almost all steelhead waters up and down the West Coast, harvest of wild steelhead is not permitted. This policy is longstanding for many rivers and is based on a combination of factors (primarily the depletion of many wild stocks). And the prohibition of sport harvest of wild steelhead in Washington, Idaho, California, and much of Oregon …
Science Friday: How do steelhead survive in intermittent streams?
It’s the first Friday in October — officially, “Septober” for us steelheaders. Unfortunately, steelhead runs across much of the West Coast have been down this year, and now there is another blob of warm water in the North Pacific. Things don’t look good right now, but wild steelhead have withstood these types of conditions before. As long as we …
Science Friday: The value of new technology: eDNA and O. mykiss
By Natalie Stauffer-Olsen It is always exciting when new technology becomes available that can help us understand, manage and protect wild steelhead, the mavericks of the Pacific salmonids. Steelhead and rainbow trout populations can be difficult to predict, model and understand because of their very plastic (scientific term for highly variable) life histories, from juveniles to adults. What’s …
Science Friday: What happens when you cram the big’uns in with the small’ins?
We sure do love this beautiful weather! It’s almost the first day of June. Summer is officially within sight. This week’s Science Friday goes back in time over 20-years to 1997. We review a study conducted by Brett Harvey and Rodney Nakamoto. We have reviewed some of their work previously, which focused on habitat usage by adult steelhead. Today …
In Support of a Hatchery Steelhead Program in the Upper Willamette
By Dean Finnerty, Wild Steelhead Initiative Director Trout Unlimited’s Wild Steelhead Initiative is all about increasing populations of wild steelhead across their native range. Why should we care so much about wild steelhead? There are several reasons, among them the fact that wild steelhead cost nothing to produce, they can be more aggressive towards the gear anglers use to …
Science Friday: Predictions for Columbia/Snake River summer steelhead and a new study on ocean distribution
Winter steelhead season is winding down, if not over in some rivers. Time to regroup and prepare for summer runs! This Friday we have a science two-pack for you. First, a bit of cautious optimism. More steelhead are predicted to return to the Columbia River basin this year than in the past two years. Last year the upriver …
Lessons from a steelhead rescue and captive rearing program on California’s Carmel River
By: Natalie Stauffer-Olsen, Staff Scientist, TU’s California Science Program One of the things that I have always admired most about O. mykiss is how adaptable and resilient they are. The rainbow trout, in both its resident and anadromous forms, evolved to take advantage of the most abundant habitats for their different life history stages as well as the genetic …
Science Friday: Can innovative methods for a wild broodstock hatchery rebuild a depleted wild population
This week we send you off with a review of a recent before-and-after study on hatchery steelhead published by Barry Berejikian and Donald Van Doornick (find the study here). The goal of this long-term study, conducted in a handful of rivers in Hood Canal, Washington, was to determine if a well-designed hatchery program could help rebuild populations of steelhead that …