Conservation Corner
with The Native Fish Society
The Goat is telling the Sheep to go trout fishing on the Santiam
By Bill Bakke
Hatchery steelhead smolts that do not migrate to the ocean are called “Residuals.” Thousands of them can be found in rivers stocked with hatchery steelhead. It has been documented by scientific research that hatchery steelhead residualism ranges from 1% to over 40% of the smolts released. Studies have shown that with a release of 200,000 smolts a 42 percent residualism rate means that 84,000 smolts stay in the river.
In June this year a ODFW news release encouraged sport fishers to go trout fishing in the Santiam River to harvest residual smolts. ODFW said this will “give anglers the opportunity to help remove surplus rainbow trout and steelhead.” So what’s wrong with that?
The steelhead smolts ODFW wants you to harvest are non-native hatchery summer steelhead. They are released in the Santiam to mitigate for threatened wild winter steelhead. Does that sound logical or even biologically sound? They are being released to provide “fishing opportunity,” but thousands do not leave the river for the ocean so ODFW has a problem. Their hatchery program is not helping to recover wild steelhead and is causing competition for food and rearing space with wild winter steelhead (protected through the Endangered Species Act) and wild resident rainbow trout.
In the 1980s the ODFW recognized that stocking catchable trout in salmon and steelhead rivers is causing increased predation, predator attraction, competition for food and rearing territory with sea-run fish and is counterproductive. Now they are sneaking in the