How Wildlife Officials Survey Northern California’s Dead Salmon to Help the Living

Curtis Brownfield, fish biologist for the Service, checks the tag number on a salmon carcass pulled up from the depths of the Sacramento River. Credit: Jake Sisco/USFWS

By Jake Sisco

The feel of the wind in your face, the sound of a boat motor roaring down a river, the spray of water, the warm sun on your back and the smell of rotting flesh. This is what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists on the Sacramento River experience when conducting winter-run Chinook salmon carcass surveys.

“The carcass survey is a cooperative effort between the Service, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission,” said Kevin Niemela, a Service supervisory fish biologist located at the Red Bluff Fish and Wildlife Office. “Typically, two boats are used to survey the river daily, one operated by the Service and the other operated by PSMFC working under contract through the Department. Each boat travels upstream and searches for carcasses, covering opposite shorelines.”

The survey allows the Service to get an idea of how many fish are returning, and where they came from. Once a salmon carcass is spotted, the boat team will use a gig on a long pole to pull the carcass into the boat, which can be more challenging than it sounds. The boat pilot has to battle water current and clarity to keep their eye on the carcass while getting into the correct position for their partner to get the fish on board the boat.

“We go out, assess and count the number of carcasses, and we also collect biological data from eyeballs, scales and fin tissue,” said Charlee Cramer, a fish biologist with the Service. “With that, we can see where they’ve been and where they came from, and we also can get a count of how many hatchery fish are out there. There will be some that have their fin clipped, which are hatchery fish, and some that are not clipped. Based on that, we can tell the percentage of hatchery success.”

Hatcheries improve the survival of young salmon (eggs, fry and juveniles). More young salmon survive in the hatchery than would survive in the wild because there are no predators in hatcheries, food is abundant and the environment is relatively constant.

“One important reason that we do the surveys is so that we can evaluate what Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery is producing and how the fish are doing,” said Curtis Brownfield, a fish biologist with the Service. “We will clip and tag them up there at the hatchery and release them into the river. When they come back, we can pull the coded wire tag out of their snout and find out where they came from.

A salmon carcass that is being processed as part of the survey. Credit: Laura Mahoney/USFWS

“Almost all of the hatchery fish came from Livingston Stone except a few strays, maybe from the Feather River State Hatchery, but all the rest are produced naturally here. This year, quite a bit of the population came from Livingston Stone. It might be half-and-half natural versus hatchery this year.”

Just because this year was a successful run, with the largest number of winter-run carcasses counted since 2006, does not mean next year will be. The surviving juveniles from this year’s spawning group will come back in three years. The fish that returned this year were fry or very small fish three years ago, this time of year. After emerging from the gravels, they out-migrated to the Delta, and then to the ocean in March of 2017, and spent two and a half years in the ocean before starting their upstream migration.

The juveniles from this year have a perilous journey between here and the ocean. There are many potential obstacles in their way, including lethal water temperatures, water flow, weather and predators. They also face obstacles to survival in the ocean, as well as the journey back to their spawning grounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvUusY8XEFI&feature=emb_logo

The number of fish that returned this year was so high that for several days this year the agencies doubled the number of boats from two to four per day.

“In July and early August, we would have been out here until 7 p.m., picking up fish in 100-degree weather, and today at the end of August, we have very few fish, and it’s overcast,” said Brownfield. “It’s just always interesting to me how it just takes that plunge from a lot of fish to basically no fish.

“This year, we had a lot of fish, which might be due to the river’s clarity. With the river being very clear this year, we can see fish at a depth that normally we cannot. This year we’ve been able to cover more of the river and see more fish, due to that clarity.”

With the need for more boats on the water, partners play a huge role in the survey’s success.

“Our partners are incredible,” said Cramer of California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission. “The partners actually go out and collect carcasses all year round. They collect fall-run and late fall-run also. We help them mainly in the summer. Without them, we would be out here multiple days on each reach. We have three different stretches of river that we do every single day, so we do one side of the river, and they do the other. If we did not have them, it would be an even longer day out here — very long. They are extremely knowledgeable, and it’s really nice to work with them.”

Active NorCal

Telling the Stories of Northern California

59 Comments

  1. I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your website.
    It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme?
    Excellent work!

  2. When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each
    time a comment is added I get three e-mails with
    the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me
    from that service? Bless you!

  3. I don’t even know how I stopped up here, but I thought this publish
    was good. I do not know who you might be however certainly you’re
    going to a well-known blogger when you aren’t already.

    Cheers!

  4. Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with
    Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing
    very good gains. If you know of any please share. Thanks!

  5. Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga group?
    There’s a lot of folks that I think would really enjoy your content.
    Please let me know. Thank you

  6. Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic however I’d figured I’d ask.
    Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa?
    My website covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we
    could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to send me an e-mail.
    I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by the way!

  7. Thanks on your marvelous posting! I certainly enjoyed reading it,
    you will be a great author. I will remember to bookmark your blog and may come
    back very soon. I want to encourage continue your
    great posts, have a nice morning!

  8. Hi, I do believe this is an excellent blog. I stumbledupon it ;
    ) I will return once again since i have bookmarked it.
    Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and
    continue to help other people.

  9. Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the internet
    the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you,
    I certainly get annoyed while people consider worries that they
    plainly do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top
    and defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a
    signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

  10. Hi there! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading through your blog posts.
    Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums
    that cover the same topics? Thanks a ton!

  11. I’ve been exploring for a little bit for any high quality articles
    or weblog posts in this sort of house . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site.

    Studying this information So i am glad to express that I’ve a very good uncanny feeling I
    found out just what I needed. I so much for sure will make sure
    to do not overlook this site and provides it a glance on a continuing basis.

  12. Incredible! This blog looks just like my old one!
    It’s on a completely different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Wonderful choice of
    colors!

  13. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a friend who had been conducting a little research on this.
    And he in fact bought me dinner because I discovered
    it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!!
    But yeah, thanx for spending time to talk about this subject
    here on your site.

  14. I really love your website.. Very nice colors & theme. Did you develop this website
    yourself? Please reply back as I’m planning to create my own personal site and would like to find out where you got this from or
    what the theme is called. Kudos!

  15. Hi, I do think this is an excellent web site.
    I stumbledupon it 😉 I will return once again since i have bookmarked it.
    Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to help other people.

  16. I’m now not certain the place you’re getting your info, however
    great topic. I must spend a while studying much more or figuring out more.
    Thank you for fantastic information I was in search of this information for my
    mission.

  17. Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I’ve truly enjoyed surfing
    around your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write
    again very soon!

  18. Hi, i feel that i saw you visited my weblog so i got here to
    go back the choose?.I’m trying to to find issues to enhance my website!I assume its good enough to make use of some of your concepts!!

  19. Quality articles or reviews is the important to attract the viewers to visit the web site, that’s
    what this web site is providing.

  20. Greetings! I’ve been reading your blog for a while
    now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Kingwood Tx!
    Just wanted to say keep up the great job!

  21. Thanks for the marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you happen to be a great author.
    I will remember to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back at
    some point. I want to encourage that you continue your great work, have a nice day!

  22. When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now
    each time a comment is added I get several emails with the same comment.
    Is there any way you can remove me from that service?
    Appreciate it!

  23. I’m curious to find out what blog system you have
    been using? I’m having some small security issues with my latest blog and I
    would like to find something more safe. Do you have any solutions?

  24. I like what you guys tend to be up too. This type of clever work
    and coverage! Keep up the excellent works guys I’ve incorporated
    you guys to my blogroll.

  25. I have been surfing online greater than 3 hours lately, but I by
    no means discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours.

    It’s beautiful worth enough for me. Personally, if all website owners
    and bloggers made good content as you did,
    the internet might be a lot more helpful
    than ever before.

  26. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as
    though you relied on the video to make your point. You clearly know what
    youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving
    us something enlightening to read?

  27. I’m amazed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that’s both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you,
    you have hit the nail on the head. The problem is an issue that
    too few folks are speaking intelligently about.

    I am very happy that I came across this during my search for something regarding this.

  28. This is the right webpage for anyone who wishes
    to understand this topic. You understand a whole lot its
    almost hard to argue with you (not that I personally would
    want to…HaHa). You certainly put a brand new spin on a
    topic that’s been discussed for a long time. Great stuff, just excellent!

  29. You actually make it seem really easy along with your presentation however I in finding
    this matter to be actually one thing which I believe I would by no means understand.

    It sort of feels too complex and very huge for me.
    I’m looking forward on your next publish, I’ll attempt to get the hold of it!

  30. I am really inspired together with your writing abilities as smartly
    as with the format for your blog. Is this a paid
    subject or did you customize it yourself? Anyway keep up the nice high quality writing, it’s rare to see a
    great blog like this one these days..

  31. Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just
    your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental
    and everything. But think of if you added some great graphics or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”!

    Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this site could undeniably be one of the very best in its niche.
    Terrific blog!

  32. Hmm it seems like your blog ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess
    I’ll just sum it up what I wrote and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog.
    I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to the whole thing.
    Do you have any suggestions for beginner blog writers?

    I’d genuinely appreciate it.

  33. Excellent post. Keep writing such kind of info on your site.
    Im really impressed by it.
    Hey there, You have performed a great job. I will certainly
    digg it and for my part recommend to my friends. I am sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.

  34. Wonderful goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to
    and you’re just extremely fantastic. I really like what you’ve acquired here,
    certainly like what you’re stating and the way in which you say it.

    You make it entertaining and you still care for
    to keep it smart. I can’t wait to read far more from
    you. This is really a tremendous site.

  35. I’ve read a few excellent stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting.
    I wonder how a lot effort you set to create one of these great informative
    web site.

  36. Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some
    of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found
    it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking
    back frequently!

  37. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of
    the images aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but
    I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different web browsers and both show the same outcome.

  38. I blog often and I really appreciate your information. The article has really peaked my interest.
    I’m going to bookmark your blog and keep checking for new information about
    once per week. I subscribed to your Feed as well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button