SEQUIM — An emergency shutoff of irrigation withdrawals from the Dungeness River over the weekend appears to have helped hundreds of salmon that had pooled near the river’s mouth instead of continuing to upstream spawning grounds.
Several hundred pink salmon and 100 to 200 chinook were stalled in the lower mile of the Dungeness, said Perry Harvester, a regional habitat program manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The river, usually flowing snowmelt from the Olympics, has seen historic lows for most of August and September because of the bone-dry mountains.
Through the weekend and on Monday, the flow was at 85 cubic feet per second — and that’s the measurement before irrigation withdrawals.
By comparison, the flow at this time last year, measured at the state fish hatchery south of Sequim, was 142 cubic feet per second.
Irrigators have a standing agreement with the state and Jamestown S’Klallam tribe to leave at least 60 cubic feet per second in the river.
Shallow water
The river was so low in some places that had the chinook tried to swim upstream, they would have been half out of the water, Harvester said.
This weekend’s effort was aimed at helping the fish make it over this particular hump, and the irrigation districts that pump water from Dungeness River to users across the area agreed.
“We all shut down at 2 o’clock Friday afternoon — the idea being to send a pulse down the river,” said Mike Jeldness, coordinator of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Agricultural Water Users Association.
Irrigators turned their taps back on Sunday morning.
Initial inspections indicated success, said Harvester.
“By late Friday afternoon or evening, the fish had already taken off,” he said.
“We got the effect we were looking for. Whether or not we can attribute that directly to the pulse, it’s likely that it did help.
“The irrigation districts . . . it was an extra effort on their part. They went the extra mile. They should be recognized.”