Note From Todd:  this is Part 5 of a 5-Part article – Sea-Run Cutthroat Above Gold Ray Dam – Say What? The article was written by Jay Nicholas, a fisheries biologist with over 30 years experience with salmon, trout, and steelhead in Oregon.  Jay was employed for most of his career by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and now works for the Wild Salmon Center http://wildsalmoncenter.org/ where he is responsible for the North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership.  I always wondered if the huge cutthroat we catch above Gold Ray are anadromous or not.  This article is Jay’s way of answering my question.  Comments about the article should be directed to me at Trophy Waters Fly Shop. http://www.trophywaters.net/index.php 

Enjoy.

Part 5

Closing Thoughts on Sea-runs n the Upper Rogue

Rogue River dams and fish passage. We know now that mining and other landuse activities had big ecological impacts in the mid-1800s, and dams added another layer of injury to salmon and steelhead because they either partly or completely blocked fish passage.  In 1889, the Master Fish Warden reported his concern about the effects of a rock and brush dam at Gold Hill on the Rogue.  This site restricted fish migrations past the structure and provided a convenient site for local residents to illegally operate fish-traps.  The same report noted a citizen complaint that a dam on the Umpqua at Roseburg was blocking fish passage, thereby depriving settlers above the dam of getting any fish to eat.  Similar reports made by fisheries officials in 1910 and 1913 reported that thousands of fish were battering themselves to death owing to inadequate provision of a fishway at Gold Ray Dam.  Maybe, just maybe, a historical legacy of impaired passage contributed to a virtual loss of the anadromous life form of coastal cutthroat above Gold Ray today.  Humm.  I bet it didn’t help.

Wondering why cutthroat don’t seem to migrate over Gold Ray Dam.  It’s probably not worth investing a big pot of money to determine if a handful of Sea-run cutthroat migrate upstream over Gold Ray.  Even if there are not any Sea-runs at all above Gold Ray, it seems like some fluvial cutthroat should be migrating over the Dam.  If fluvial Cutthroat do not migrate over the Dam, that would imply that these fish must stick pretty close to their spawning areas.  I just wonder. 

Catch-and-release regulations. My Rogue River fishing buddies tell me that there are more of the 16” to 20” cutthroat in the Upper Rogue in the last several years than they caught in the 1980s and early 1990s.  I wonder if the apparent increase in the number of large cutthroat in the Rogue above Gold Ray is because of the no wild-fish-kill regulations in effect since 1997.  Research on coastal cutthroat in Oregon ()in coastal rivers) suggested that angling mortality had a significant impact by reducing survival to repeat spawning stage.  I wonder if no-kill regulations have produced better survival (and therefore, more older-age individuals) cutthroat in the Rogue.

Gold Ray fish-count data. Dan Vandyke and I have mulled over the apparent absence of cutthroat at Gold Ray.  We both think that it will be worthwhile to look carefully at the Gold Ray tapes, so that even 50 or so cutthroat (regardless of whether they are fluvial or Sea-runs) could be accounted for at the Dam, if they do occur there in the future. An improvement in the health of the fluvial population of cutthroat above Gold Ray might generate an increase in the number of cutthroat dropping downstream and then migrating back upstream over the Dam to spawn.  Pacific salmon are colonizers, given half a chance.  We can always hope for a healthier population of Pacific salmon in the Rogue, can’t we?

Research and monitoring.  Throughout their range from California to Alaska, coastal cutthroat are generally prioritized at a lower level than salmon or steelhead in terms of making investments in research to guide management decisions.  Salmon and steelhead receive the greater share of scarce research and management funds.  This is not a criticism of priorities, simply an observation.  It is what it is.