Tanker Accidentally Releases Young Salmon Into Wrong Oregon River When It Crashes
Posted 2024-04-16 by
Thousands of smolts were dumped into Lookingglass Creek by accident
A tanker full of young chinook salmon on their way to being released into Oregon’s Imnaha River crashed, spilling the approximately 77,000 smolts into a creek on the side of the road last month.
According to Baker City Herald, the 53-foot truck rolled onto its passenger side, skidded across the pavement and flipped onto its roof after hitting a rocky embankment. The tanker then split open, spilling its contents onto the riverbank next to the road. Approximately 77,000 smolts, the term for a fish that’s approximately 2 years old, made it into Lookingglass Creek, which runs alongside the road.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) said the remaining 25,000 salmon smolts were found dead on the river bank or inside the tanker.
A statement issued by the agency said: The smolts lost represent about 20 percent of the total that will be released into the Imnaha River this year. Fishery managers expect to see about 500-900 fewer adult fish returning in 2026 and 2027 due to the loss. The 77,000 fish that made it into Lookingglass Creek will likely return there and produce approximately 350-700 additional adults.
The Imnaha River’s salmon population is listed as “threatened.”
In an attempt to bolster the river’s salmon population, the fish were being transported from the Lookingglass Hatchery in northeast Oregon to the Imnaha River, where they were set to be released.
Experts believe the fish that were accidentally released into Lookingglass Creek will likely return there to breed each year, improving the fish population in that body of water.
“We are thankful the ODFW employee driving the truck was not seriously injured,” said Andrew Gibbs, ODFW fish hatchery coordinator for Eastern Oregon, in a statement shared by the agency.
Gibbs said that chinook salmon smolts are native to all the tributaries of the Grande Ronde and Imnaha rivers, so the fish that were accidentally released into Lookingglass Creek should not cause problems. In fact, Gibbs said that there is a program that releases chinook salmon smolts into Lookingglass Creek.
