Here is an email I received about Vancouver Island wild steelhead stocks:

By MARK HUME
> >
> >
> > UPDATED AT 12:19 PM EST Tuesday, Mar. 23, 2004
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Advertisement
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Something dreadful is happening to the rivers on Vancouver Island. Pool
>by
> > pool, riffle by riffle, they are dying.
> >
> > To a casual passerby, glancing down from one of the slick new bridges on
>the
> > Island Highway, nothing seems amiss. Rivers like the Cowichan, Nanaimo,
> > Little Qualicum, Englishman, Trent and Tsable look just as beautiful as
> > ever, running from under the mossy, green forests to the blue waters of
> > Georgia Strait.
> >
> > Mike McCulloch knows better.
> >
> > Mr. McCulloch, a fisheries technician with the B.C. Conservation
>Foundation,
> > helps organize small teams of swimmers that are responsible for taking
>an
> > unusual annual census. They pull on wet suits against the bone-numbing
>cold,
> > and snorkel the rivers that flow out of Vancouver Island's rugged
>mountains.
> > They are looking for an increasingly rare species of salmon known as
> > steelhead. They aren't finding many.
> >
> > The Gold River, on Vancouver Island's West Coast, historically had runs
>of
> > as many as 5,000 steelhead.
> >
> > Last year, swimmers counted 900; this year they found 35.
> >
> > "The magnitude of decline is overwhelming," said Mr. McCulloch. There
>are
> > worse statistics. In the little Trent River, which should have 100
> > steelhead, the snorkel team found only two. Both females.
> >
> > In Goldstream, a small river just outside Victoria that spills from one
> > dappled pool to another, there should be several hundred steelhead
>waiting
> > to spawn. The swimmers found none.
> >
> > The trend is repeated in river after river. The fish population data,
> > compiled by swimmers who peer under banks and dive into the gloomy
>darkness
> > of deep pools, is mathematically plotting the path to extinction.
> >
> > "When you get down to one or two fish in a stream we call it
> > quasi-extinction," Mr. McCulloch said. "At zero, it is termed
>extirpation,
> > meaning the species is extinct locally."
> >
> > Steelhead rivers on Vancouver Island have been in trouble for several
>years,
> > but never have the numbers been so low. "It's a situation that's getting
> > quite desperate," Mr. McCulloch said. "We're only a life cycle away from
>a
> > spiral into oblivion."
> >
> > Steelhead aren't like other salmon on the Pacific Coast. They are
>believed
> > to be the progenitor species, the fish that spawned all the other kinds
>of
> > salmon.
> >
> > There are six species of wild Pacific salmon, each filling its own niche
>in
> > the ecosystem. Some, like pinks, are small but prolific. Others, like
> > chinook, are fewer in number but grow to immense sizes. But only one,
>the
> > steelhead, survives spawning. The irony is that, for reasons not fully
> > understood, steelhead, the survivors, are now dying out as a species.
> >
> > Mr. McCulloch said habitat destruction is part of the problem. Vancouver
> > Island watersheds have been logged and many rivers run through heavily
> > urbanized areas. Some watersheds are dammed. Poor ocean survival, due to
>a
> > shift in temperatures, is a major factor affecting all salmon species.
> > Steelhead, which have been tracked all the way to the coast of Russia in
> > their Pacific migrations, have been the hardest hit. Because they live
> > longer in their freshwater phase, they have also suffered the most in
>the
> > rivers.
> >
> > The B.C. Conservation Foundation, a non-profit group, is working jointly
> > with the provincial Ministry of Land, Water and Air Protection to
>restore
> > Vancouver Island steelhead. One plan, not yet funded, is to fertilize 15
> > rivers where nutrient levels are low because of declining salmon runs.
> >
> > When salmon die after spawning, their bodies decompose, enriching the
> > watersheds and stimulating the growth of aquatic insects, which feed
>young
> > fish. But overfishing and habitat problems have robbed many rivers of
>the
> > massive salmon runs they once had, stripping the streams of nutrients.
> > Steelhead usually live for two years in freshwater before heading to the
> > ocean. If they are underfed, they will be too small to survive when they
>run
> > to the sea. Mr. McCulloch has been scrounging dead salmon from federal
> > salmon hatcheries and placing them in rivers as fertilizer, hoping to
> > stimulate the growth of baby steelhead. From the dead bodies of one
>species
> > they hope to revive another. In one experimental program, artificial
> > fertilization saved the Keogh River, where steelhead runs are stable and
> > salmon stocks are increasing.
> >
> > Mr. McCulloch calls the Keogh "a beacon" in the darkness, but the
> > restoration project can't be copied without more money. The foundation
>and
> > government fisheries agencies need $4-million a year in excess of their
>core
> > funding, about double what they have. BC Hydro and some forest companies
>are
> > helping with corporate donations, but the federal government, which has
> > $1-billion to help beef farmers, which squanders millions on sponsorship
> > scandals and which dithers over endangered-species legislation, seems
> > oblivious to the steelhead crisis.
> >
> > "There are too many rivers in trouble and not enough money," Mr.
>McCulloch
> > said.
> >
> > Meanwhile, in the Trent, two females wait alone -- the last hope for a
> > river.
> >
> > mhume@globeandmail.ca
> >
>

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Isn't it strange that the two salmon stocks that are doing the best(pinks and chums) are the stocks that spend little time in the rivers---- they hatch and leave.