Trinity Salmon Run the Best in Years

REDDING--Returns of adult fall-run king salmon into the Klamath-Trinity River systems in 1995 were the second highest in 18 years, according to preliminary numbers compiled by the Department of Fish and Game.

At the same time, the numbers of two-year-old fish--known as grilse or "jack" salmon--were the sixth highest, presaging the likelihood of healthy returns of adult fish to some of the Klamath River Basin's streams next fall, the DFG said.

The DFG said preliminary data place the estimated Klamath-Trinity return of adult, fall-run king salmon at 200,177, more than three times the number that entered the system in 1994 and the largest number since 1987.

The preliminary "escapement" number--those adult fish that managed to dodge river sport anglers and Indian net fishers to reach natural spawning habitat or a hatchery--is estimated at 179,226 for 1995, more than four times the 1994 level.

Fish and Game said adult salmon in the three- and four-year-old classes are the principal, and most desirable, contributors to the annual spawning runs of salmon into California rivers. They are also the main target of ocean and river fishermen.

Because of the general four-year-life cycle of salmon, a large number of adult spawners in a given year may have little relationship to the adult numbers of either the year before or year after the large run, the DFG said.

Fish and Game biologists say they suspect that a combination of generous river and creek flows in the spring of 1993 and an abated El Nino that left behind greatly improved ocean forage conditions provide the explanations for last fall's salmon explosion.

Returning to the Klamath-Trinity system last fall, the adult fish have produced additional millions of juveniles that will count on good stream flows to carry them downstream over the coming months. "Now we have to hope for good spring flows to help the smolts survive their journey down river to the ocean," he said.

Mark Zuspan, the DFG biologist for the Trinity River, said ocean feeding conditions awaiting the young fish may be an equally large factor in the survival of the juveniles and in their return as adults years later.

"The largest spawning migration on record in the Trinity came from a group of fish that went out as juveniles in a mediocre water year," said Zuspan. "However, because of excellent post-El Nino ocean conditions, their surivival was exceptionally high."

The Trinity River Hatchery had a total of 14,876 adult king salmon in 1995, with relatively low jack salmon returns.

The largest run of jacks to natural spawning habitats occurred in the Trinity River Basin, the main stem Klamath and several of its tributaries.

Biologists estimate that a total of 227,666 fall-run adult and jack salmon entered the mouth of the Klamath River last fall.

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