Barnettm

No flame here, the data you are referring to is what was widely reported as the largest number of fish “counted” at Bonneville. Recently fish managers went to a 24-hour video monitoring system. Before that, fish counters only worked from 6am to 10pm during the busy times and less hours when early or late in the run. This allowed many fish to get by without getting counted.

The other important fact that has lead to the largest number of fish counted at the dam is the relatively low number of fish commercially and sport harvested in the lower part of the river now compared to the 20’s 30’s or 40’s. The current impact on wild fish is limited to no more than 15 % of the returning adults. Historically harvest levels ranged from 70% to 85% of returning adults. The counts were low at the dam because most were harvested before they made it to the dams. In order to get the numbers of fish back to where they were originally we would have to see an increase of nearly a factor of ten over what we saw this year. That is a whole lot of fish…