Oregon Public Broadcasting

Sockeye salmon and spring chinook returns are expected to be good this year. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

At its meeting in Portland, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council was briefed by two biologists.

One of them, Ed Schriever is the Chief of Fisheries for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. He says adult salmon returns above the Lower Granite Dam are impressive at the moment.

Ed Shriever: "We had a record run of Summer Steelhead up-stream of Lower Granite last fall. Those fish continue to cross Lower Granite at this time on their spring migration to the spawning grounds.  The hatchery fish in that return were again record setting and very robust and we enjoyed very good fisheries and those fisheries continue through the spring right now."

Still, the Power Council is concerned about the possibility of a drought in the Columbia Basin this year.

Fish maturing in the ocean are also dealing with El Niño conditions -- and historically, salmon don't do well in the warm waters of an El Niño.