Yreka, Calif. — On Tuesday, the Siskiyou County government, Siskiyou County Farm Bureau and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) issued a joint press release announcing their efforts to have supplementation included in state and federal efforts to recover coho salmon populations in local watersheds.

“The concept is to add more fish to streams to take advantage of valuable underutilized habitat that is available either naturally or because of improvements made by ranchers in recent years,” the release stated.

Siskiyou County has promoted supplementing coho salmon in recent years using the “eyed-egg injection” method. This technique involves procuring partially developed salmon eggs and injecting them into gravel in the streambeds, where they can continue to develop and emerge volitionally.

In 1997 the coho salmon was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which requires a recovery plan be developed for any species listed under its provisions. On Jan. 9 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the release of its Draft Recovery Plan for Southern Oregon/Northern California coastal coho salmon. The federal agency is inviting the public to provide comments on the plan as part of the legally mandated public comment period for such documents.

 

Comments will be accepted through March 5.

On Wednesday, NOAA announced the schedule and locations for its public meetings on the draft recovery plan. The Siskiyou County meeting will be held at the Yreka Community Center, 810 S. Oregon St. in Yreka, on Feb. 14.

As part of the ongoing process of developing the final recovery plan, Siskiyou County and its partners in the effort will take part in a two-day workshop Feb. 15-16 in Yreka. The workshop will address various subjects including eyed-egg injection and the genetic questions surrounding it.

According to Curtis Knight, CalTrout’s conservation director for the Mount Shasta office, the workshop will be the culmination of extensive talks among many local partners working to find viable solutions to the coho problem.

Ongoing discussions have grown to include the Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District, CalTrout, PacifiCorp, the Yurok Tribe, California Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, Bureau of Reclamation and Humboldt State University. According to the joint press release, this group is looking into the genetics of the coho population that might be used for supplementation. It is also evaluating the range of methods that are available to place fish in streams including releasing fish at the egg, fry and adult life stages.

Knight said he is very encouraged by the county’s proactive approach to coho recovery and looks forward to working with them to find ways to recover local populations of the fish. He said some agency scientists have reservations about the eyed-egg injection technique, but he is not necessarily against it.

“The concerns about genetic issues are real and complex. We’ve got some issues to work out,” Knight said. “We need to be smart about it.”

Siskiyou County Supervisor Jim Cook said in the release, “Supplementing the remaining coho salmon in the Shasta River is one tool that must be considered as part of recovering the diminished population in the county. We need to take advantage of the major habitat improvements that have been accomplished by our agricultural community. These include diversion dam removals, fencing of streams and improved tailwater management.”

Jim Morris from the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau noted, “Farm Bureau recognizes that the issues related to the coho salmon being listed as threatened by both the state and federal governments aren’t going away by themselves. We see the need to push to have all reasonable solutions and possibilities considered and to stimulate some positive action. A small scale supplementation project in the Shasta River could be just the sort of positive step forward needed by our community and the resource.”

Copies of the draft recovery plan are available at http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/recovery or by contacting Cynthia Anderson at (707) 825-5162.

Recovery plan comment submissions can be mailed to: Julie Weeder, National Marine Fisheries Service, 1655 Heindon Road, Arcata, CA 95521, Attn: Recovery Coordinator/SONCC Coho Salmon Public Draft Recovery Plan Comments.

Comments may also be submitted via email at SONCC.Recovery@noaa.gov and may be faxed to (707) 825-4840. If faxing, include the following on the cover page: “Attn: Recovery Coordinator/SONCC Coho Salmon Public Draft Recovery Plan Comments.

Comments may be submitted in person at the National Marine Fisheries Service, 1655 Heindon Road, Arcata, CA 95521, Attn: Recovery Coordinator/SONCC Coho Salmon Public Draft Recovery Plan Comments. Business hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.