Photo from BPA.
An independent science panel has looked at the Obama Administration’s plans to barge salmon around dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers this spring.
The conclusion? Not a good idea.
The Independent Science Advisory Board says spilling water past dams is a better way to increase the survival rates of young salmon as they migrate down river to the Pacific Ocean. But it also says a mixed strategy, spills plus barging, “is best supported by the available science.”
Faced with a spring of low water, NOAA Fisheries says it wants to cut off spills at dams on the Lower Snake River. It says rounding up young salmon, putting them on barges, and shipping them past dams is better for salmon during dry years.
It will need court permission to do that. NOAA asked the ISAB to review the plans before taking them before a federal judge. With the board rejecting NOAA’s ideas, it’s sure to complicate things for the feds.
The feds are obviously concerned about how much water there will be in the Columbia Basin this spring for generating electricity. Water spilled over dams means there’s less water to run turbines, and that can drive up the cost of electricity for the region. The report from IASB says it didn’t look at those factors.
Save Our Wild Salmon, a coalition of environmental and fishing groups, says it hopes the Obama Administration is paying attention to what IASB is saying.
“Leaving salmon without an effective way to get past the dams by cutting spill, as the administration has proposed, would be a direct impact to endangered salmon, fishing communities and sound science,” says Douglas DeHart, fisheries scientist and former chief of fisheries of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Studies have consistently shown that young salmon which are allowed to migrate in-river with adequate flows and spill return as adults at much higher rates than those transported downstream via barge and truck.”
Starting in 2006, the federal agencies that operate the Columbia Basin hydropower system have been under court orders to spill water for salmon. Fishery scientists have told me on several occasions, that this is one of the reasons why we’ve seen a series of decent salmons runs over the past few years in the Columbia Basin. Another big factor is ocean conditions. Water temperatures in the Pacific were colder than average during this same period – and salmon do better in cold water.
(Note: In my story last Friday, I said the IASB report wasn’t due until April 14. That obviously was wrong!)
Related Stories:
A Slow Barge To Recovery: Should Salmon Swim Or Be Shipped Past Dams?
Don’t Cry Over Spilled Water. Groups Say Let’s Help Salmon Instead.
NOAA Will Rework Obama Salmon Plan
I just think that fish ladders should be used, the barging might cause more problems for the fish.