A new federal recovery plan for Snake River sockeye salmon recognizes progress in rebuilding a species that nearly vanished in the 1990s.
It calls for moving into a new phase of recovery for Idaho's iconic fish – beyond preventing extinction.
The plan, released on Monday, includes reintroducing sockeye into two additional Idaho mountain lakes and allowing more fish to spawn naturally in Redfish Lake, where hatchery efforts have increased their numbers.
“With our support, these resilient fish have already defied the odds by coming back to the extent that they have,” said Will Stelle, West Coast Region administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “We hope this recovery plan will serve as an important turning point that advances our shared vision for an abundant, productive and diverse sockeye population that no longer needs endangered species protections.”
Thousands of Snake River sockeye salmon used to make the 900-mile return trip from the mouth of the Columbia River to their waters of origin: Idaho's Redfish Lake. But with overfishing, dam construction and other development in the Columbia River Basin, their numbers had dwindled to pitiful lows by the 1990s. In 1992, biologists reported just one fish returned; they called him Lonesome Larry.
Snake River sockeye were listed as endangered in 1991, and government agencies launched extensive efforts to save the species from extinction. Officials say those efforts have been working. The hatchery program designed to rebuild sockeye numbers saw 1,579 fish return to spawn last year – the highest return since 1955.
Officials say they've made enough progress in preventing extinction to move onto the next phase of recovery.
"We're always excited about our returns especially when we get record-breaking returns like we did last year," said Chris Kozfkay, a research biologist with Idaho Fish and Game. "But I think we're getting to a point where we're beginning to accept that this is going to be something we're going to continue to see. We're going to keep breaking our records, and that's what we need to move towards recovery."
Within the next year, the National Oceanic an Atmospheric Administration and Idaho Fish and Game plan on reintroducing the fish into two additional mountain lakes: Pettit and Altura.
A new Idaho hatchery paid for by the Bonneville Power Administration came online in 2013 to support the recovery efforts. The new plans include releasing up to 1 million hatchery juvenile sockeye by 2017.
Kozfkay said officials are hoping to use some of the returning adult hatchery fish to produce more hatchery fish while allowing others to spawn naturally in mountain lakes.
"We hope to keep building on that and keep getting natural adults back that can provide higher fitness and recolonize these habitats," she said.
Tom Flagg, program manager with NOAA Fisheries, said he's "darn pleased" with the recovery effort so far. Eventually, he said, he thinks it will be possible for the sockeye population to sustain itself without a hatchery.
"Idaho is seeing a lot of signs of increased fitness from the fish spawning in the lake," he said. "It looks like there's enough capacity in the lake to produce enough smolts to make that self sustaining. We're a long ways off of total confirmation of this, but the early results look very promising."
The new recovery plan also calls for protecting and improving habitat in the Salmon River, continuing to improve fish passage through Columbia and Snake River dams, increasing stream flows through water conservation, and investigating the relatively high losses of juvenile and adult sockeye in the Salmon River.
Officials say it could still be 50 years before Snake River sockeye numbers have rebounded enough to be removed from the government's endangered species list.
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