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The
following is an article written by Nick Gardner of Redding, which was published in the Record Searchlight on April 6, 2008.
It is reprinted here with permission of the author:
How do salmon
die? Let us count the ways
Having fished the Sacramento River since I was 12 years old (45 years ago), I have noticed numerous reasons for the salmon decline.
Shasta Dam, built in the '40s, cut off 90% of the spawning habitat.
The remaining spawning grounds are degraded by decreased water flows during the main spawn (October to December) drying
up spawning rimes.
With my own eyes, I have seen eggs left high and dry that were submerged
the day before; I have seen fry (baby salmon) flopping, stranded out of the water due to decreased flows, as I fished.
Millions of fish died as a result.
Many millions more fish are eaten by the increased number
of rainbow trout (due to a lowered bag limit), and the merganser, a protected fish duck, that now has a family unit (four
to nine ducks) camped on each riffle gobbling juvenile salmon.
Jet boats have been detrimental
to salmon nests, sucking up millions of eggs when driven over spawning riffles. Cabela man, with his waders and fly
rod, crushes eggs as he wades through salmon nests in pursuit of trout. I have seen 12 and 14 waders at a time on the
riffle in front of the Lake Redding boat launch, day after day, during the spawn.
Striped bass,
from Chesapeake Bay, planted in the 1800s, are probably as detrimental to salmon as Shasta Dam. Stripers eat salmon
smolt on their way to the ocean like popcorn. There is a resident school below the Red Bluff diversion dam feeding on
them on their journey to the ocean. The smolt that get past Red Bluff face huge irrigation pumps that suck them and
then another larger gauntlet of stripers before reaching the sea.
The main predator in the ocean
would have to be the foreign fishing fleets with 20-mile long gill nets that can capture and process whole runs at sea.
The surviving salmon that return to spawn need to get past the Red Bluff diversion dam and the
commercial fishing guide industry, located on the remaining spawning grounds, to spawn.
To enhance
spawning success, water flows need to be maintained at 6,500 cfs September through January, and there should be a bounty
of stripers, not a bag limit. Perhaps the human footprint played a larger role in the declining salmon stocks than global
warming. You be the judge.
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Fishing Tips:
How To "Catch and Release"
with Care
"Catch and Release" has become a popular and preferred method of fishing. Here are some tips to give
released fish the best chance of survival.
1. Use barbless hooks. Using needle-nose pliers
to pinch down the barb works very well.
2. Land the fish quickly. This is particularly important
when water temperatures are warmer. Fish get exhausted because there is less dissolved oxygen in warm water.
Don't use gear that is too light, and don't set the drag too loosely.
3. Use a landing net.
Choose a "fish-friendly," fine-mesh net.
4. Keep the fish in the water. When
possible, remove the hook while the fish is still in the water. Minimize the time the fish is out of the water.
5. Use wet hands. Wet your hands and the net before touching the fish. Wet cotton gloves
can also be worn. If the mucus on the fish is removed they could get a bacterial infection.
6. Remove
hook quickly. Use long-nose pliers. If the hook is deep, cut the line as close to the hook as possible.
7. Don't touch the gills. Gill filaments are delicate and are easily damaged.
8.
Revive the fish. To release, hold the fish in the water horizontally, facing into the current.
Allow it to swim away under its own power.
IN LOVING MEMORY BUSTER BORN TO FISH
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