The California Department of Fish and Wildlife in May released more than two million fall-run Chinook salmon smolts into the Klamath River.
On May 15, about 1.3 million fall-run Chinook salmon smolts were released below the Iron Gate Dam and about 800,000 fish were released from the same location on May 22, according to CDFW.
Fish & Wildlife said that salmon smolts were trucked about seven miles to the release point from CDFW’s new, state-of-the-art Fall Creek Fish Hatchery. The fish carried coded-wire tags and had their adipose fins clipped to later identify them as being of hatchery origin and provide scientists and hatchery managers with data about their life histories and the success of the release.
Although still undergoing the final phases of construction, CDFW’s new Fall Creek Fish Hatchery, which replaces the 63-year-old Iron Gate Fish Hatchery on the Klamath River, has already exceeded its production goal of 3.25 million salmon in its first year of operation, according to Fish & Wildlife.
This, CDFW has said, is the combined result of the excellent water quality in Fall Creek, a tributary to the Klamath River, and improved efficiencies of the facility itself.
The salmon smolts were about six months old and averaged just under three inches in length. The smolt releases began earlier than scheduled due to warming temperatures in the Klamath Basin and C. Shasta disease concerns, according to Fish & Wildlife.
C. Shasta—or Ceratonova shasta—is a naturally occurring freshwater parasite native to the Klamath River that can cause disease in young salmon. The fish are particularly susceptible in warmer water temperatures. Those concerns were alleviated, however, with a return of cooler temperatures to the Klamath Basin.
Dam removal provided a backdrop to CDFW’s salmon releases: three remaining Klamath River dams targeted for removal—JC Boyle, Copco 1 and Iron Gate—are all being actively deconstructed.
Their removal is ahead of schedule, according to Fish & Wildlife, and could open up free fish passage and access to hundreds of miles of new spawning and rearing habitat to salmon returning from the ocean as early as this fall.
CDFW has said that it plans another release of 250,000 to 300,000 yearling fall-run Chinook salmon later this year. If dam removal proceeds at its current pace, CDFW expects to release the fish directly from its Fall Creek Fish Hatchery into Fall Creek, which has been inaccessible to salmon due to its location behind the Iron Gate Dam.
Dam removal, the transition to the state-of-the-art Fall Creek Fish Hatchery, increasing variability in hatchery releases at different salmon life stages to supplement in-river production and the strong relationships forged with tribal partners that have made these actions successful are all critical components of the “California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future” released by Gov. Gavin Newsom in January 2024.
Components of the strategy include removing barriers and modernizing infrastructure for salmon migration; restoration and expansion of habitat for salmon spawning and rearing; protecting water flows and water quality in key rivers to support salmon; and modernizing salmon hatcheries.
The full 37-page strategy can be read online at https://tinyurl.com/3z687rdx.