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Paul Olin (Director of the California Sea Grant
Extension Program), CE Advisor David Lewis, & Mariska Obedzinski are
assisting the California Department of Fish & Game (CDFG) to restore
coho salmon in the Russian River watershed.
They have developed strategies for
the release & monitoring of juvenile coho that were reared in captivity
& stocked into streams where coho had been extirpated. During the
fall of 2004 approximately 6,100 offspring of native captive-reared Russian
River coho salmon were stocked into 3 tributaries of the Russian River. In
2005 a total of approximately 16,000 coho were released in a total of 5
tributaries, including both spring & fall releases. A grant from CDFG
supports fish abundance surveys & measurements of stream flow,
temperature, food availability in conjunction with fish stocking. In
December 2006 the first group of adult fish are expected to return to spawn
in the tributaries in which they were released. Their return will mark the
completion of a three-year life cycle & provide further feedback on the
viability of the captive broodstock approach for coho recovery.
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