Our new Biological Assessment is out - Klamath Basin Crisis

Klamath Project Operations Biological Assessment
Coho Salmon: Environmental Baseline
Weitkamp et al. (1995) identified four hatcheries that were producing and
releasing coho salmon within the SONCC coho salmon ESU during the mid-
1990s: Mad River Hatchery, Trinity River Hatchery, Iron Gate Hatchery, and
Cole River Hatchery. Prairie Creek Hatchery produced coho salmon for many
years but closed in 1992 (CDFG 2002). Rowdy Creek Hatchery is a privately
owned hatchery that has produced coho salmon in the past. However, the facility
did not produce coho salmon in 1999 and 2000 due to lack of adult spawners
(CDFG 2002), and no further production of coho salmon at this facility is
planned. A more detail discussion of the Iron Gate Hatchery and the Trinity
River Hatchery follows.
Iron Gate Hatchery
Iron Gate Hatchery, located on the Klamath River near Hornbrook, California,
approximately 190 river miles (306 km) from the ocean, was founded in 1965 and
is operated by the CDFG. The Iron Gate Hatchery was built by Pacific Power and
Light Company to mitigate the effects of both habitat loss from Copco 2 to IGD
and the effects associated with IGD operations on natural-origin salmonids,
including coho salmon that naturally occurred in the upper Klamath River (CDFG
2002 and Salmon and Steelhead Hatchery Assessment Group [SSHAG] 2003).
The coho salmon stock at the Iron Gate Hatchery was initially developed from
eggs taken from the Klaskanine Hatchery in Oregon in 1966. Klaskanine
Hatchery is located along the North Fork Klaskanine River (Columbia River
Basin) approximately 12 miles southeast of Astoria, Oregon. In an effort to
increase returns to Iron Gate Hatchery, coho salmon from Cascade Hatchery
(Columbia River Basin) were released in 1966, 1967, 1969, and 1970 (CDFG
2002 and CDFG 2003 Preliminary Conclusions). Since 1977, only the offspring
of coho salmon returning to the Klamath River Basin have been released from
Iron Gate Hatchery (CDFG 2003 Preliminary Conclusions).
Annual releases of coho salmon from the Iron Gate Hatchery have decreased from
an average of approximately 147,000 fish from 1987 to 1991, to 93,206 fish from
2003 to 2007 (Table 3-14). CDFG reduced these releases to more closely adhere
to the Iron Gate Hatchery mitigation goal of 75,000 coho salmon yearlings per
year. Adult returns averaged 1,120 annually between 1991 and 2000, and 161
females on average have been spawned annually for broodstock during this
period. The adult coho salmon return averaged 1,355 from 2001 to 2006 (K.
Rushton, Fish Hatchery Manager II, CDFG, August 1, 2007 pers. comm.).
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