The Outdoor Line Forum

Check out this article on fertilizing streams to grow algae that benefits steelhead and coho fry.





http://www.canada.com/technology/Fertilizer+streams+holds+promise+rebuilding+salmon+stocks/4276233/story.html

Interesting, we know that we do need more nutrients in the water, maybe this is the answer. I wonder if we would ever try something like that?

Rob -
I posted this on another site - sorry for the cut and paste but I'm pretty lazy!

Fertilizing watersheds has been a proven aid to rebuilding sockeye runs and appears to have some benefits for coho but there is little evidence it is much of an aid to steelhead. see the following

http://www.bccf.com/steelhead/pdf/Keogh ... t_2002.pdf

The report in the first link indicated that adding nutrients began in 1989. In the link I provide scroll down to figure 3 (page 25) and compare the adult steelhead returns to the Keogh starting in the early 1990s (the adults whose juveniles would have been expected to receive benefits from the fertilizer) to those years before that time period.

Part of the problem in steelhead is that there is emerging evidence that there is a tendency for the faster growing O. mykiss juveniles to either mature early (males) or to remain in freshwater rather than smolting (both males and females). As always our fish resources are complicated critters and seem to often resist the simple fixes to complex man-caused problems.

Tight lines
Curt

Curt,

Well I guess we need to get back to carcass tossing. I also heard about these logs they make up in Canada out of the leftover hatchery fish. Place the log at various parts of the river and provide nutrients that way. It is complicated but there has to be an answer.