In 1981, the Little River Band cut a classic hit, “Take it easy on me.”
While it’s meant to be a tear-jerker about a jilted lover, in these abnormally hot-getting-hotter times for returning salmon and steelhead, it’s “easy to see” it trans-morphed into a plea from under the surface of our dangerously warm rivers.
Hence the chorus: “Take it easy on me; It should be easy to see; I’m getting lost in the crowd; hear me cryin’ out loud.”
Ben Walczak, district fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, reported the deaths of nearly 100 adult spring chinook in the Clackamas River during the record heat in late June. Several more died in the Sandy, although that river typically runs cooler.
Stress from the heated water — up to 75 degrees in some stretches — brought on an eruption of columnaris, a bacterial disease commonly active in warm water.
Worse, Walczak said warm temperatures are also killing baby salmon and steelhead; up to 1% per day of youngsters in hatchery ponds.
And it’s not just the hatcheries — this is where humans can help.
When the inevitable summer splash and giggle rafting/tubing/swimming crowds hit the water in the kinds of numbers seen in both the Sandy and Clackamas, they tend to force fish out of the cooler places they want to be.
Juvenile wild fish are especially vulnerable to rock dams, structures built by kids and adults along the shoreline, using sand, pebbles and rocks. Small fry (fish not kids) are difficult to see and are trapped in the enclosures, which heat up much more than the running river.
Walczak said it’s a major problem in the summer, especially now from the halfway point on.
“Smaller fish are just too weak,” he said. “We’re not going to see a ban on swimming, but it’s an awareness thing.”
We can’t do much more than suffer through whatever additional heat is headed our way (and we dodged a bullet this past week), but if we can’t control water quality, we can control its quantity.
Let your lawn go brown and be careful when swimming in the river; it’s their home, not yours.
From the Little River Band: “It’s all up to you but whatever you do, take it easy on me.”
Rally for the river: The Association of Northwest Steelheaders is hosting a boat rally on Saturday, Aug. 7, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on the lower Willamette River between the Burnside and Morrison bridges.
The event is in support of fish: “Stand up for Salmon.”
Details are on the association’s website.
A 2015 redo? Bad as it seems, river conditions haven’t yet matched the killer year of 2015, when early hot weather raised the Columbia’s temperatures into a death sentence for an estimated quarter million sockeye salmon.
It also created a thermal block upriver from Tongue Point, which caused salmon to pause in the estuary, where anglers had a very good year.
So far, though, we haven’t seen water as warm as early (May and June) as that year. We’re only half a degree or so warmer than the five-year average and we haven’t had an extended heat wave, despite how hot it seems.
Buoy 10 tips: Remember that saltwater is heavier than freshwater, so is found closer to the bottom. While your depth finder may read, say, 67-degrees, the actual temperature down where your bait or lure lurks is most likely much cooler and more comfortable for the fish.
Note for those fishing out of the Astoria West Basin: All the stores are gone, including the fish cleaning and packing operations.
Both cleaning stations at the East and West Basin marinas are open for do-it-yourself and there will be a portable vacuum-packing operation at the West Basin, but no filleting other than your own.
There are still spaces available for participation in the Buoy 10 Challenge on Aug. 20, a fundraiser hosted by the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association and dozens of sponsors. Proceeds help protect sportfishing for the future.
The event includes a dinner, auction and door prizes at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. Check the NSIA website for registration and tournament rules.
Short casts: The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meets Friday in a virtual session to set 2022 angling regulations and consider bow-hunting restrictions for several northeast Oregon units, which would increase the number of controlled hunts for bows. An earlier proposal to require a choice between bow hunting east or west has been dropped. Barbless rule changes for the Columbia River will not be considered. ... Halibut fishing along the central Oregon coast has been expanded when the season reopens Aug. 5. Check the ODFW halibut page.
Huh? Last and hopefully least, be aware of an initiative petition being circulated for signatures that would create a 2022 ballot measure to end all intentional killing of animals in Oregon.
Nope, not making this up.
Hunting and fishing would be illegal, as would all livestock ranching, live animal research and more. Ranchers would have to wait until their livestock die naturally before butchering anything.
Hopefully, this is the last you’ll hear about this.
-- Bill Monroe for The Oregonian/OregonLive
"fish" - Google News
August 01, 2021 at 02:55AM
https://ift.tt/2V8n1rb
Bill Monroe: Summer is harder on fish than most realize - OregonLive
"fish" - Google News
https://ift.tt/35JkYuc
https://ift.tt/3feFffJ
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Bill Monroe: Summer is harder on fish than most realize - OregonLive"
Post a Comment