The Sacramento stocks had an excellent natural fall spawning escapement last year of 475,300 adults and 29,100 jacks. The target for escapement is 180,000 to 122,000 spawning fish, but this has been exceeded every year since 1995, according to Allen Grover, DFG fisheries biologist.

The Central Valley Index, based on a total return of 42,000 fall-run jack salmon (two year olds) including hatchery and naturally-spawned fish, also makes this ocean and river seasons on the Sacramento River look promising. The winter and spring-run chinook populations are also showing improvement, according to Grover.

Ironically, one of the reasons for the high escapement was the poor fishing for Sacramento River chinooks in California waters south of Point Arena in 2001. A change in ocean currents drew the Central Valley fish north along the Oregon coast, resulting in hot fishing in Oregon waters and spotty fishing for much of the season in California waters south of Point Arena. The fish from the Sacramento and other Central Valley rivers fed heavily in Oregon and California North Coast waters through the spring and summer, not returning until just prior to spawning time to head south towards the Golden Gate

Grover noted that there was a dramatic shift in the ocean distribution of the Central Valley fish, based on statistics compiled by the DFG that measure annual abundance and ocean fishery impact. "The Central Valley Index abundance south of Point Arena was only 27, the lowest ever, in 2001," he said. "Normally it is well over 50 percent." The lowest previous index was 51 in 1985.

Fortunately, neither Grover or LB Boydston, intergovernmental affairs representative of the DFG, anticipate this rare occurrence to take place again this year, though it is still possible.

In spite of the improving fall, spring and winter chinook returns, Grover noted that Oregon coho stocks can influence the regulation process in California. "Even though there was a huge escapement of natural spawning coho in 2001," he cautioned, "the north and central Oregon stocks are still less than required. These stocks have had a precipitous decline since 1970."

One of the main reasons for the rising abundance of Sacramento River chinook stocks is the restoration measures that have been implemented under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA), the Endangered Species Act and a myriad of state fisheries legislation. United Anglers, the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and other fishery conservation groups lobbied for decades for these recovery efforts.

Diana Jacobs of the DFG explained how the CalFed Restoration Program, which involves a multitude of state and federal agencies, has spent over $336 million since 1997 on 325 projects to restore salmon fisheries. These improvements have included the construction of the temperature control device at Shasta Dam, the removal of Saeltzer Dam on Clear Creek, and most importantly, restrictions on Delta pumping by the state and federal governments.

As Jacobs pointed out, some the habitat work's success is hard to quantify. One interesting cooperative project she cited was the Robinson Ranch Project, where the landowner and DFG have just completed a project to reconstruct a channel and floodplain to provide better spawning and rearing habitat for fall chinooks. "They put spawning gravel in and reconstructed a channel in 4-1/2 miles of river for a total of $8,536,500," she said. "Our next step will be planting riparian vegetation."

The success of the project will be judged in years to come when more salmon use the restored habitat. However, she pointed out that this year salmon are already starting to spawn in the restored stretch.

A more concrete success was demonstrated on Butte Creek, where dams blocking migration were removed, again in a cooperative project between landowners and the state and federal agencies. Three years after they began removing dams and installing fish ladders, the largest run of spring chinooks in many decades, 20,000 fish, ascended the river in 2000. Again in 2001, the creek saw a run of 17,0000 fish.

"It's amazing to see the amount of fish returning in the spring to spawn later in the year in the Sierra Nevada," she said. Although the spring run still has a long way to go to reach historical numbers, "the early returns to the area are positive."

Likewise, the Klamath River system saw a good spawning return, the result of fishery conservation measures, including the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act and implementation of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act, which provides recovery measures on the Trinity River. Klamath Basin farmers protested vigorously when the Interior Department cut their water off last year, but the high, cold flows that moved down the river helped not only endangered suckers and coho salmon, but the river's steelhead and fall chinook runs.

"In this year's season in the Klamath Management Zone, we are looking at a robust populations of 3 and 4 year old fish," Grover summed up. The total in river run in 2001 was 186,100 fall chinooks and 11,100 jacks. Even with a more liberal bag limit and quota on the Klamath, the total system escapement (including both the Klamath and Trinity) was 133,600 adult fish, including 78,400 natural spawners.

Do you have a proposal for a regulation change in the upcoming seasons? If so, don't delay in getting involved in the process. The Pacific Fishery Management Council and its advisory entities will meet March 10-15, 2002, in Sacramento, California at the Red Lion Hotel, 1401 Arden Way, (916) 922-8041. All meetings are open to the public, except a closed session to be held from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 12. For more information on the meetings, call the Council office, (503) 326-6352.