CRITFC Fish Technician Crystal Chulick with a 3-foot-long chinook taken from the trap at Bonneville Dam. Technicians sample fish for a variety of research projects being conducted by CRITFC fish biologists.
On September 7, 67,024 fall chinook passed Bonneville Dam. The very next day, 67,521 passed, breaking the record for number of fish passing the dam since it was built back in 1938. Over those two days, 134,545 fall chinook passed Bonneville Dam—more fish than the entire fall chinook runs in 1992 (116,200) and 1993 (126,472). The previous record one-day return was just last year, when 63,870 passed the dam on September 9, 2013. On September 21, the one-millionth adult chinook of 2014 passed Bonneville Dam. As of that date, 1,154,744 adult and jack spring, summer, and fall chinook had passed the dam. The flood of returning salmon has sidelined the CRITFC fish technicians that sample fish at Bonneville Dam. Fish have been passing at such a high pace that they can’t close the ladder gates that divert fish into the trap because it would back up salmon entering the ladder.