News Release
| Release Number: | 01-054 |
| Dated: | 4/20/2001 |
| Contact: | Public Affairs Office, 503-808-4510 |
Portland, Ore.-With spring chinook salmon runs at record levels, this would be a great weekend to enjoy watching through windows at Bonneville Dam as this Northwest icon swims by a few inches away from you.
On Wednesday, a record 27,020 adult spring chinook passed by fish viewing windows at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' dam 40 miles east of Portland, Ore., on the Columbia River. That one-day count exceeded total spring chinook counts in both 1994 (20,566) and 1995 (12,563).
This year the tally of spring chinook past Bonneville reached 231,936 adults on April 19, 2001. The highest April run in 63 years of record keeping (1938-2000) was 154,443 in 1972.
Fish passage numbers on each side of the project vary from day to day, depending on which of the two Bonneville powerhouses is being used to generate power at that time. To get the best viewing possible, ask at the Visitor Center when you get there.
While each day's numbers are variable, they have been above 11,000 fish each day since April 10. Numbers have likely peaked at this point in the run, according to Corps fisheries biologist, Dennis Schwartz, but should continue to provide very good viewing during the next few weeks. When April runs are high, they typically taper off in May, and that is the expected trend this year. Spring chinook are counted from March until May 31 each year. Counts after that time are tallied as summer chinook and later still, fall chinook.
Conservative projections based on current numbers and historical records of the start of each year's fish run could put the number of spring chinook this year at more than 400,000. That projection is based on the earliest run of record, which occurred in 1977, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which tallies and records each year's counts.
The top total run in historical record, including spring, summer and fall chinook, was 570,881 tallied in 1986. Last year's total chinook run reached 401,779 spring, summer and fall fish.
Visitor centers on Bradford Island on the Oregon side of the Bonneville project, and at the Washington Shore Visitor Complex, are currently open each day from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. From the Oregon shore, visitors should take Exit 40 off Interstate 84; in Washington take Hwy 14 and exit at Milepost 40.
If you'd like to track the fish runs yourself, go to https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/fishdata/Adultfishcounts.htm and look around.