Weekly Lower Snake River Report, 5/16/17

The weekly update:  A total of 234 spring Chinook salmon have crossed Lower Granite Dam as of 5/15/17.  In 2016, a total of 29,544 had passed by now.  The ten year average on this date is 25,823.

A total of 7,258 steelhead have crossed as of 5/15/17.  These are fish that spent the winter in-river.  In 2016, a total of 5,456 had passed.  The ten year average on this date is 8,962.

Of those steelhead, only 3,018 are wild.  The rest are hatchery fish.

We are either experiencing a slow start to the spring Chinook run, a very small run, or a combination of both.  River flows have been high and cold this year.  The 2015 juvenile Chinook, many of which are returning this year as adults, experienced extreme levels of mortality in the hydrosystem during their migration to the Pacific Ocean.  You  can read more about that here.