Anglers net a good-sized Chinook salmon from the Salmon River (AP photo)
The Salmon River in upstate New York has had salmon for years, but they weren’t the right kind.
The Lake Ontario tributary used to harbor fine runs of Atlantic salmon, but those disappeared during the late 1800s. Now the river is better known for runs of hatchery-bred Pacific salmon species — Chinook and coho — and hatchery-bred brown trout and steelhead.
Now Atlantic salmon are coming back. The Associated Press has a terrific piece about the comeback:
PULASKI, N.Y. (AP) — Native Atlantic salmon are once again reproducing in the wild in central New York’s renowned Salmon River, where anglers travel from across North America and overseas every autumn to reel in hatchery-bred Atlantics as well as non-native chinooks, cohos, brown trout and feisty steelheads that swim upstream from Lake Ontario.
After more than a century without a wild-breeding population, this is the third year in a row that researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey have found young Atlantic salmon in the river, said USGS scientist Jim Johnson. When the young mature, eggs will be taken from some to propagate at the USGS research lab in Cortland, he said.
The goal is to re-establish a heritage species that had a prominent place in the cultural history of the region, where early settlers wrote of spearing hundreds of salmon a night during the spawning run.
“Our geneticist says any strain that survives to adulthood will be a preferential strain to use in the future,” Johnson said.
Lake Ontario once supported the world’s largest freshwater population of Atlantic salmon. But the fish vanished in the late 1800s as a result of overfishing and habitat destruction. Government agencies in the U.S. and Canada have maintained an Atlantic salmon fishery by the annual stocking of millions of hatchery fish, but the fish haven’t been able to reproduce in the wild because of a thiamine deficiency caused by eating alewives, an invasive species. Alewives contain an enzyme that destroys thiamine, also known as Vitamin B1.
“After Atlantic salmon and lake trout were extirpated, there was no longer a major predator to eat the alewives in Lake Ontario and the population exploded,” said Fran Verdoliva, Salmon River program coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Pacific salmon — chinook and coho — were brought in from hatcheries to control the alewife population in Lake Ontario in 1968, and brown and steelhead trout were added in the 1970s.
“The sport fishery developed out of what started as biological control of invasive species,” Verdoliva said.
On a typical fall weekend, you’ll find anglers lining the banks of the Salmon River almost shoulder to shoulder. The fish are so abundant that in shallow areas, it seems you could walk across their shining backs from one stony bank to the other.
Tens of thousands of mature fish that instinctively return to the state hatchery where they were born are stripped of sperm and eggs by hatchery workers to breed a new generation.
The workers toss the fish, which naturally die after spawning, into a garbage bin because of state Health Department limits on consumption by humans or animals. All fish from Lake Ontario are contaminated with low levels of toxic PCBs and the pesticide Mirex.
The health advisories don’t deter anglers from their annual pilgrimage to the Salmon River. Last year, an estimated 113,000 people fished the river, making it one of the most intensive fisheries in the United States, Verdoliva said. Many, including Verdoliva, release all the fish they catch, fishing only for sport.
“On the 18 miles of the Salmon River below the dam, the number of fishermen surpasses all other tributaries combined plus the boat fishery on the lake,” Verdoliva said.
“This is the only place in the Northeast where you can catch 25-inch king salmon in ankle-deep water,” said Phil Bortz, a fishing guide who has had clients from as far away as Oregon, Arizona and Switzerland. “Steelhead are the holy grail of the species. Pound for pound, they’re the toughest fighting fish out there. It’s like having a lightning bolt on the end of your line.”
Gail Sult, of Allentown, Pa., said she and her husband, Frank, fish in Canada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and North Carolina, but the Salmon River is their favorite. “Here, the fish are much bigger, the scenery along the river is awesome, and people are very nice, down to earth.”
Atlantic salmon are a welcome addition to the Lake Ontario fishery not only because they’re native to the lake, but also because they run up the rivers earlier than the fall-spawning fish, thus extending the fishing season. They’re also prized by anglers because of their fighting spirit.
“The Atlantic is a better-fighting game fish than the chinook,” said tackle shop owner Malinda Barna, who would like to see the state reduce the number of chinooks stocked and concentrate more on coho, steelhead and Atlantic salmon.
It’s unclear why Atlantic salmon are now reproducing in the wild, but a decline in the number of alewives coupled with a rise in numbers of another invasive species called the round goby may have something to do with it.
“Gobies are high in thiamine,” Verdoliva said. When salmon eat gobies, it may increase their thiamine level, countering the ill-effect of alewives, he said.
The downside of the Salmon River’s huge fish population is that it draws some people who are less interested in sportfishing traditions than in bragging rights to a trophy fish — particularly during the fall chinook run, Barna said. She said many anglers still snag fish — the now-illegal practice of dragging hooks through the water to catch fish by the tail, gills, or other body parts. Many leave beer cans and other garbage along the riverbank and in the woods.
She wants to see more state enforcement of fishing regulations and stiffer fines for violators.
Former West Virginia governor and current U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin has put the National Park Service on notice.
Subscribe to Woods and Waters
