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Starting a new generation
By Joe Hansen, Outdoors Editor
Sunday, June 29, 2008 | No comments posted.
The oral histories of the Coquille Indian Tribe tell of literally tons of fish being pulled out of Coos Bay to be dried and eaten in camps.
Those days are no more, as decades of overfishing, habitat-harming timber practices and changing marine environment have left Coos Bay barren of species like Chinook salmon. But last week saw the beginning of a partnership between the Coquille Indian Tribe, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Salmon Trout Enhancement Program with the lofty goal of restoring historic fish populations to the bay.
“We lived off of fish years ago. That was our main subsistence,” said Tribe Chairman Ed Metcalf. “We want to bring fish back, but not just for us — for everyone.”
On Monday, 50,000 fall Chinook pre-smolts were released into Coos Bay from the Fourth Creek Reservoir as part of a pilot project to assess the possibility of future releases on tribal lands — the reservoir is located on the Empire Reservation off Cape Arago Highway. The salmon had been floating in Fourth Creek for two weeks, undergoing a process known as “acclimation,” whereby the fish form a mental imprint of the outlet’s unique chemistry. This means that when the fish return from Alaska in 2 to 6 years, Fourth Creek is where they should come back to.
ODFW, STEP and the Coquille Tribe see this as a way of expanding fishing opportunities in Lower Portions of Coos Bay by adding new locations for their release.
“If we diversify and spread acclimations throughout the bay, then we’re diversifying the number of areas where people can fish,” said Charleston District Fish Biologist Mike Gray at the release Monday. “We see this as one point of the partnership.”
The Chinook eggs were originally collected from the STEP’s Noble Creek hatchery in 2007, incubated at ODFW’s Bandon hatchery and now released on tribal lands. On Monday ODFW and Coquille personnel teamed up to build a fish tram — a kind of floating pathway made of mesh — for the fish to use to exit the reservoir and enter Coos Bay to begin their long journey north.
Members of the partnership hope this will just be the start. Jason Robison, environmental services program coordinator for the Coquille, said the Tribe hopes to increase its capacity to some 200,000 Chinook over the next several years, partly to replace the loss of a STEP facility at Daniels Creek last year. And the tribe also has a second facility with the possibility for acclimating fish, the Tarheel Reservoir near Fourth Creek.
“Salmon is important to the culture of the Coquille Tribe, but not just to the Coquille Tribe — it’s important to the culture of the entire South Coast,” said Robison. “Tribal Council has taken a role in restoring fish populations in its homelands.”
Monday’s project showed some of the logistical challenges faced in rearing and releasing fish, and that sometimes the benefits of a partnership can be reduced to numbers of boots on the ground. Coquille and ODFW personnel splashed around for several hours in the muddy water of the Fourth Creek Reservoir, manually wiring together the fish tram, which led from a small holding pen, where the fish have been sitting for two weeks, to the heavy iron gate used to control water levels.
Tribal Water Environmental Specialist Bryan Duggan spoke of some of the other difficulties in raising fish as he snagged netfuls of dead Chinook out of the pen.
“The water temperatures out here are just a few degrees from lethal for salmonids,” he said, noting the lack of tree cover meant less shade, and thus water temperatures upwards of 18 degrees Celsius — 21 degrees is the limit for salmon.
Gray said ODFW is looking into partnering with the Coquille Tribe for salmon habitat restoration — part of which would include planting trees — in the future.
And as ODFW personnel used a backhoe to lift the iron gate to free the Chinook, which started trickling out of the pen, all parties involved had good things to say about the partnership.
“I think the partnership we have here is a success right off the bat,” said Gray. “I think this is what it’s going to take to bring the fish back.”
Metcalf added the real dividends will be realized in 2 to 6 years.
“We’re just excited, very excited, as we released the fish this week.” he said. “We can’t wait till they start coming back.”
Those days are no more, as decades of overfishing, habitat-harming timber practices and changing marine environment have left Coos Bay barren of species like Chinook salmon. But last week saw the beginning of a partnership between the Coquille Indian Tribe, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Salmon Trout Enhancement Program with the lofty goal of restoring historic fish populations to the bay.
“We lived off of fish years ago. That was our main subsistence,” said Tribe Chairman Ed Metcalf. “We want to bring fish back, but not just for us — for everyone.”
On Monday, 50,000 fall Chinook pre-smolts were released into Coos Bay from the Fourth Creek Reservoir as part of a pilot project to assess the possibility of future releases on tribal lands — the reservoir is located on the Empire Reservation off Cape Arago Highway. The salmon had been floating in Fourth Creek for two weeks, undergoing a process known as “acclimation,” whereby the fish form a mental imprint of the outlet’s unique chemistry. This means that when the fish return from Alaska in 2 to 6 years, Fourth Creek is where they should come back to.
ODFW, STEP and the Coquille Tribe see this as a way of expanding fishing opportunities in Lower Portions of Coos Bay by adding new locations for their release.
“If we diversify and spread acclimations throughout the bay, then we’re diversifying the number of areas where people can fish,” said Charleston District Fish Biologist Mike Gray at the release Monday. “We see this as one point of the partnership.”
The Chinook eggs were originally collected from the STEP’s Noble Creek hatchery in 2007, incubated at ODFW’s Bandon hatchery and now released on tribal lands. On Monday ODFW and Coquille personnel teamed up to build a fish tram — a kind of floating pathway made of mesh — for the fish to use to exit the reservoir and enter Coos Bay to begin their long journey north.
Members of the partnership hope this will just be the start. Jason Robison, environmental services program coordinator for the Coquille, said the Tribe hopes to increase its capacity to some 200,000 Chinook over the next several years, partly to replace the loss of a STEP facility at Daniels Creek last year. And the tribe also has a second facility with the possibility for acclimating fish, the Tarheel Reservoir near Fourth Creek.
“Salmon is important to the culture of the Coquille Tribe, but not just to the Coquille Tribe — it’s important to the culture of the entire South Coast,” said Robison. “Tribal Council has taken a role in restoring fish populations in its homelands.”
Monday’s project showed some of the logistical challenges faced in rearing and releasing fish, and that sometimes the benefits of a partnership can be reduced to numbers of boots on the ground. Coquille and ODFW personnel splashed around for several hours in the muddy water of the Fourth Creek Reservoir, manually wiring together the fish tram, which led from a small holding pen, where the fish have been sitting for two weeks, to the heavy iron gate used to control water levels.
Tribal Water Environmental Specialist Bryan Duggan spoke of some of the other difficulties in raising fish as he snagged netfuls of dead Chinook out of the pen.
“The water temperatures out here are just a few degrees from lethal for salmonids,” he said, noting the lack of tree cover meant less shade, and thus water temperatures upwards of 18 degrees Celsius — 21 degrees is the limit for salmon.
Gray said ODFW is looking into partnering with the Coquille Tribe for salmon habitat restoration — part of which would include planting trees — in the future.
And as ODFW personnel used a backhoe to lift the iron gate to free the Chinook, which started trickling out of the pen, all parties involved had good things to say about the partnership.
“I think the partnership we have here is a success right off the bat,” said Gray. “I think this is what it’s going to take to bring the fish back.”
Metcalf added the real dividends will be realized in 2 to 6 years.
“We’re just excited, very excited, as we released the fish this week.” he said. “We can’t wait till they start coming back.”
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