About 750,000 sockeye crossed the Bonneville Dam, on the Columbia River between the US states of Oregon and Washington, this summer, with salmon runs in neighboring states like Idaho reaching record numbers.
That’s according to Idaho Fish and Game (IFG), which issued a statement Monday (Aug. 19) regarding the large number of sockeye coming back to the area through the Columbia River system. The state agency noted, however, that not all of the fish are from Idaho.
“There’s a huge return of Columbia River sockeye,” said Eric Johnson, an IFG senior fisheries research biologist. “And in the past, some of those fish have strayed into the Snake River and crossed Lower Granite Dam.”
According to IFG, 2,835 fish were counted at Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River, the highest sockeye return since fish counting started at the dam in 1975.
Also, IFG expects only a fraction of those fish to end up staying in Idaho as strays on their journey upriver.