Steelhead declines linked with poor survival of young fish in the ocean

[boxhitch]

Though steelies are not mentioned they are in the same waters

Puget Sound Study: Pinniped Predation On Juvenile Salmon Making Salmon Recovery More Difficult
.......Since the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972, populations of marine mammals, such as harbor seals, and Steller and California sea lions have rebounded. However, with the increase in mammal numbers has come a corresponding increase in predation on salmon in Northwest waters, according to a recent study...........
.........In a domino effect, predation, along with other factors, is making it more difficult to restore runs of chinook salmon in Puget Sound,...........
...........Like in the Columbia River, sea lions are the primary predator on adult salmon, but so are killer whales in Puget Sound. As it turns out, though, harbor seals that eat mostly juvenile chinook salmon may be causing the most damage..........

.http://www.cbbulletin.com/439144.aspx

[ACB]

If their decline like the article says, has been since the 80's, and is strongly attributed to seal populations, you would've seen a crash in seal numbers a while ago, no? I would think the most probable reason for their decline would be the parasites and chemical contaminants their suspecting...I sure hope they figure it out before it's too late..

Steelhead have been declining for a long time, the Japanese long line fishing nets (miles long) couldn't of helped. One year in the 80's our all knowing DFO opened the Fraser R. for the UIC chum fishery in October and wiped out an estimated half of the Thompson R. fall summer steelhead run! There's a lot of reasons, seals are probably one of them for sure but it's not the only one, another huge one would be habitat degradation from logging and mining. To truly try to get the salmon and trout back to sustainable numbers we should really be trying to rehabilitate are streams and rivers and not rely on hatcheries to produce are fish.

[rimfire]

Start taking the seals out of the equation.Too many of them around!

Time for an open season on seals?

[Surrey Boy]

Time for an open season on seals?

Like gophers, only better.

[Salty]

If their decline like the article says, has been since the 80's, and is strongly attributed to seal populations, you would've seen a crash in seal numbers a while ago, no? I would think the most probable reason for their decline would be the parasites and chemical contaminants their suspecting...I sure hope they figure it out before it's too late..

Na, the seals would just move on to the next course they have a big variety of food sources. Steelhead smolts would just be a few week a year smorgasbord. Supposedly, hake is a main food source for seals in the Georgia straight. Herring is right up there too.

[tigrr]

Around the Skeena river in the 80's you put your order in at the reserve how many steelhead you want. Gillnet caught.
Some rivers it is hard to believe a steehead could survive being caught 10 times by fly fishermen.

[markomoose]

Na, the seals would just move on to the next course they have a big variety of food sources. Steelhead smolts would just be a few week a year smorgasbord. Supposedly, hake is a main food source for seals in the Georgia straight. Herring is right up there too.

Last time I looked salmon eat herring?Not enough herring equals less salmon.Do you agree Salty?

[teebs]

The decline of steelhead and salmon stocks on our coast is an example of death by a thousand cuts. I think it's fairly undeniable that climate change, habitat loss, overfishing, salmon farms and increased predation have all played a significant role in their demise. Personally, I think there's some pretty convincing data out there that fish farms are one of the leading causes, and I don't think it's a coincidence that steelhead stocks that travel through the Broughton Archipelago (ie those from Puget sound) have seen more significant declines than those that stick to the outside of Vancouver Island (ie those on the coast of WA and OR).

[quadrakid]

where is your convincing data about fish farms?

[Salty]

Last time I looked salmon eat herring?Not enough herring equals less salmon.Do you agree Salty?

I absolutely agree. But its a tangled web to try to figure it all out.. the Georgia Straight supports an annual commercial herring fishery and herring numbers remain good, really good actually for most of the straight. Yet salmon returns in the area have been hit and miss. With a lot of miss Which when you think about it they only really rely on that herring for the last few months of their life. Most of their life is spent deep at sea and we have not much of a clue what happens out there.