Chinook Salmon in the Russian River
The first Russian River Chinook salmon of the 2011-2012 season passed through the Water Agency's fish ladder video counting system on September 25.
As of 1/20/12, 3,119 Chinook have been counted.
Below - in numerical order - is a total of Chinook salmon from prior years:
2003: 6,103
2002: 5,474
2004: 4,788
2006: 3,410
2005: 2,572
2010: 2,414
2007: 1,963
2009: 1,801
2000: 1,445
2001: 1,383
2008: 1,125
- View detailed data for past years chinook and steelhead video monitoring (PDF)
- Historic Accounts, Recent Abundance, and Current Distribution of Threatened Chinook Salmon in the Russian River, 2007 (PDF)
Per the Biological Opinion and State Water Resources Control Board Order, the video counting system operated continuously at both fish ladders (on either side of the dam) since August 15 until December 21. Water Agency biologists and a team of technicians review the time lapse images seven days a week and visit the site daily to clean and maintain the cameras.
Chinook salmon currently returning to the River are offspring of wild parents that spawned naturally in the upper 75 miles of the mainstem or in Dry Creek. Unlike many steelhead and coho salmon in the Russian River, there is no hatchery production of Chinook salmon. Fish returning to spawn are two to four years old. Spawning typically commences in November and continues through January. Eggs incubate in the gravel for roughly two months before fry emerge and begin their downstream migration to the estuary. Water Agency trapping and marking studies have shown that most juvenile Chinook salmon enter the Pacific Ocean by July of their first year of life. 
Poor ocean conditions that led to low food supplies for juvenile fish in 2005 and 2006 negatively affected the abundance of adult salmon for the past two years - hence the second year of fishery closures along our coast. The Water Agency has been monitoring Russian River Chinook for the past 10 years. In 2008, the Water Agency counted only 1,125 fish - our lowest total to date. In 2003, the Water Agency counted nearly 6,100 fish.
We Need Your Help
Recovering Chinook salmon in the Russian River will require the participation of everyone in our community. If you observe any active Chinook poaching or suspicious activity, please notify the Sheriff's Department at 707.565.2121.
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