Spawning Areas and Abundance of Steelhead Trout and Coho, 

 Sockeye, and Chum Salmon in the Columbia River Basin — 



Past and Present 



By 



LEONARD A. FULTON, Fishery Biologist 



National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Laboratory 



Seattle, Washington 98102 



ABSTRACT 



Past spawning areas (those removed from use before 1969) and present ones 

 (those in use in 1969) are described for steelhead trout, Salmo gairdneri; coho 

 salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch; sockeye salmon, O. nerka; and chum salmon, 0. keta. 



The different species characteristically spawn in the following areas: (1) steel- 

 head trout — in streams of all sizes (widely dispersed throughout the watershed, 

 (2) coho salmon — in small streams (mostly in the lower tributaries) and in a few 

 areas in the middle watershed, (3) sockeye salmon — in lakes and tributaries of 

 lakes (in the middle portion of the watershed), and (4) chum salmon — in lower 

 portions of tributaries that enter the Columbia River below The Dalles Dam. 



All four species have lost many spawning areas because of water-use devel- 

 opments and changes in the watershed resulting from logging, highway construc- 

 tion, agricultural cultivation, placer mining, and dumping of wastes. 



Serious depletion of the runs of all four species is evident from the available 

 data (the commercial catches before 1938 and since 1938 augmented by informa- 

 tion on escapement and sport catch). 



The future prospects are fair for steelhead trout, good for coho salmon, and 

 poor for sockeye and chum salmon. 



INTRODUCTION 



Populations of salmon and trout in the 

 Columbia River basin formerly were larger 

 than they are today, and the fish spawned in 

 more tributaries and streams than they now 

 do. Each species discussed here — steelhead 

 trout, Salmo gairdneri; coho salmon, Oncor- 

 hynchus kisutch; sockeye salmon, O. nerka; 

 and chum salmon, 0. keta — had distinctive 

 distributions. 



Steelhead trout were widely dispersed (and 

 still are except in the upper Columbia River') ; 

 they spawn in streams of all sizes. They were 

 often most numerous in the upper parts of 



tributary watersheds. They reportedly 

 spawned in the main Columbia as far up- 

 stream as the Canadian border and in tribu- 

 taries of the lower part of the upper Columbia 

 River; the uppermost stream was the Pend 

 Oi'eille River. (They may have moved into 

 the headwaters of the Columbia but docu- 

 mentation is lacking.) In the Snake River 

 drainage steelhead trout were as far upstream 

 as Rock Creek in southeastern Idaho. 



' In referring to the major sections of the Columbia 

 River drainage, I have defined the lower river as the 

 area below McNary Dam, the middle river as the area 

 between McNary and Chief Joseph Dams, and upper 

 river as the area above Chief Joseph Dam. 



