The Fuss Over Fish

(CBS)  This story was first broadcast on Nov. 19, 2000. It was updated on Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

The federal government has declared a "fishery disaster" area along the U.S. West Coast this summer after the salmon population there went into what's being called an "unprecedented collapse." As a result, the commercial salmon industry, which normally captures 800,000 fish a year, has been shut down and salmon prices are going through the roof.

The cause of the die-off is up for debate: the Bush administration blames warmer temperatures in the ocean where salmon spend most of their lives, but many scientists say man is to blame. Dams and irrigation canals kill millions of salmon as they migrate up and down rivers where they are born and where they return to spawn.

60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl first reported on the disappearing salmon back in 2000, focusing on two rivers in Oregon and Washington - the Columbia and its tributary, the Snake - where salmon were once so plentiful, it was said you could walk across the water on their backs.

The question then - and still today - is whether four dams should be torn down to prevent the salmon's extinction. Under the Endangered Species Act, the government is required not to let that happen. And the lengths the government is going not to let that happen, and the billions they're spending not to let that happen, are staggering.

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The measures to protect the fish are so elaborate the observer is left to wonder: who thought this up?

"This whole system [was] built just so that the little baby fish don't have to go through the dam?" Stahl asks, observing an elaborate labyrinth of pipelines set up at a dam.

"Right, in order to keep them away from the turbines," says biologist Doug Arndt of the Army Corps of Engineers, which built the dams.

Arndt says the turbines kill about half the fish that go through them. And so 20 million young salmon a year are diverted as they go downstream into specially built raceways and sluices, shot through tunnels, into the pipelines and are then loaded onto barges. The fish are given a lift on a barge, courtesy of the U.S. government.

"We're gonna take all these fish down the river," Arndt explains. "It's gonna be about 300 mile trip. …Take about a day and a half."

Ironically, the well intentioned barging may interfere with the salmon's homing instinct, which is essential to their survival since after their trip down river, they go back up the river as adults to spawn, homing in on the very spot where they were born.

Asked if they're getting hurt, Arndt says, "No."

"This is actually a very, very good system," he tells Stahl.

The salmon are also loaded onto trucks. "They tried airplanes, they tried trucks…different ways of getting the salmon safely to below the hydro electric system," Arndt explains.

To help the fish that aren't barged or trucked get past the dams, the Corps built an artificial shoreline that cost $80 million, and a surface fish collector that cost $200 million. But after two decades of spending, the results are dismal: Coho salmon are already extinct, and runs of Chinook and Sockeye salmon are on the endangered list. To stop the decline, environmentalists are insisting that some of the dams be torn down.

So now Northwesterners are facing a choice between their beloved salmon and their beloved dams.

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[scatt_56]

I''m not sure just what the point of this report was. You present several people, each with a strong, uncompromizing, self-interested agenda, with no way for the viewer to evaluate the issues and form an opinion as to what course makes the most sense. To have any real utility a report like this should end with an evaluation by a competent, disinterested, outside observer. That''s not Lesley or anyone else at 60 minutes.

A few minutes research on the web indicates to me that both the costs of salmon research -- bogus or not -- and the harm to the fishing industry are drops in the bucket relative to the wealth created by these dams. Moreover, the dams create pollution-free, renewable energy at a time when it is critically needed.

As an engineer and a biologist I suspect that the salmon problem can be fixed without tearing down the dams -- if someone really wants to.

[fishpassage]

There is a win-win solution to the problem of declining salmon runs. A fish passage system consisting of a submerged pipeline was designed and first introduced beginning in 1991. The system is called the Boylan Pipeline, named after its founder who is now deceased. Unfortunately the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies have refused to test the concept, instead committing all of their resources to the failed programs that were pointed out by 60 Minutes. Environmental groups have also opposed the Pipeline concept because their real agenda is to remove the dams. Many biologists and engineers have endorsed the pipleline system and believe that it will succeed if only it would be tried. The problem is that politicians are afraid of the issue and government agencies are stubbronly committed to their failed programs. The Pipeline is a simple solution which would enable salmon smolt to reach the ocean safely. The conduit system protects the smolt from predators and dams; in a stream flow, carrying more uniform water chemistry and imprinting from natal streams and tributaries, to the tidal waters of an estuary. The Pipeline would cost a fraction of other proposals and would offer these advantages: 1.Does not take any water away from users, such as farming. 2. Power generation is unaffected. 3. No disruption with the barge industry. 4. River recreation & business would not be dirupted. There would be nothing to lose and much to gain if only the Army Corps of Engineers would listen.

[krnln]

Let''s see, how can we give half truths and pretend to do a story without actually doing research. Come on, Ms Stahl. We don''t just give cheap electricity to aluminum companies from these dams. Millions of people depend on this otherwise nonpolluting hydroelectricity for power. Shall we replace them with coal plants? And right now, we are talking about more hybrid and electric cars. Where is the extra electricity supposed to come from? Keep up the goofy, superficial reporting and you will push government to give us another dumb solution as bad as the terns they imported. Don''t run stories if you don''t have time to dig deeper.

[clmason3]

I''m a little surprised by the lack of research involved for such an important story. The story seems to suggest that the only sure way to save the salmon is removal of the 4 snake river dams. What about the declining runs of salmon on river systems that are not dammed. How about the fish that are in trouble in watersheds where there is no irrigating, logging, mining? The only thing all these rivers have in common is the fact that salmon are being over fished in the open ocean by the commercial industry. You forgot to mention that we have more fish returning to the Columbia/Snake today then prior to the dams construction. There are almost 4 times more salmon returning today then just prior to Bonneville''s installation. Did you know the commercial fleet harvested 400 million salmon off the pacific coast? Our oceans are being overharvested by methods that are non selective, i.e. drift nets. Our government is trying to save wild salmon yet we still allow the use of gillnets which kill virtually anything that swims into them. Speaking of "wild salmon", do you think that just because a salmon is caught in the ocean it is wild? I would love to know what the percentage of the commercial catch is that actually orginated from hatcheries. Seems like our tax dollars might actually be subsidizing the commercial industry by growing hatchery fish for them to catch and sell in foreign markets. Maybe you could do some research and let us know if the public is being snowed here?

[razorclam00]

Next for the sockeye. Yes there have been some years where only a handfull make it up to Idaho, but lets look at this years run. in the last 3 weeks or so 125,000 fish have been going over the dam and we are just comming up to the peak of the run and we are fishing for them in the columbia. As for the willamette run of salmon all you did was throw a red herring into the bag. There are no dams up there and one has nothing to do with the other. I feel like you need to do a better job giving a balanced report, and maby talk about more important factors... on is the sea lions that are putting a dent into our populations of salmon and sturgeon, and the commercial fisherman. If we can get those two things under control, and bring back many of the fish hatcherys we could have very healthy and sustainable funs of all sub-species of salmon within the next 10 years.

[razorclam00]

First off lets get some more updated material here! This report is 8 years old. Let me point out some true facts here. There is still a good run of Coho salmon in the columbia...where in the h*** did you guys come up with the run being extinct? Starting next week I will be fishing for them in the pacific right off the columbia, then I follow them up river in September.... so if they let the sportsmen and commercial fisherman catch them than it has to be a stable run.

[duffi723]

the way things are. Global Warming. Flooding in the heartland. Tornados. Hurricanes. Earthquakes.
How much can be contribuated to MAN.

When I watched this program, I was reminded of EXPO ''74., Spokane''s worlds fair. The theme was the environment. The feathered persona was Chief Seattle.
Speaking of MOTHER EARTH

http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/chiefsea.html

[yunirhi]

There is, of course, a whole other side to the story - where the solutions are and how we get there. While "60 Minutes" discussed potential impacts to farmers and electricity consumers, it failed to discuss the fact that cost-effective alternatives are available today that that can replace the current salmon-killing system with salmon-friendly technologies. We can save money and salmon and invest in our communities at the same time.

Clean Energy Solution: The small amount of electricity that the four lower Snake River dams generate can be replaced with investments in conservation, efficiency, and truly clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

Irrigation and Transportation Solution: Farmers can keep farming without these four dams. The irrigation water that is pumped from one of the reservoirs will be available from a free-flowing lower Snake River. And a rail line that runs parallel to the lower Snake River can be upgraded to carry farm products to export markets on the coast.

And we''ll save money! In total, the dam removal/technology replacement solution could cost significantly less than the government''s more-of-the-same salmon plan: $8 billion dollars for the next 10 years that won''t protect salmon from extinction.

[flycaster7]

Thanks to CBS for forward-loking journalism, and to Ms. Stahl particularly for her excellent job on this topic.

The big picture of dams and salmon in the Northwest is often misunderstood. There are 227 major dams in the Columbia River Basin; removing only 4 of them (an affordable and sensible option) opens up pristine salmon habitat in central Idaho comprising 70% of the entire basin''s salmon recovery potential. If we succeed in recovering wild salmon to the Columbia River, it will be because we succeeded in the Snake River. And, to succeed in the Snake River, we need to remove four high-cost, low-value dams that we can live without.

I am convinced that the four dams will eventually be removed, leaving the remaining 223 in the Columbia basin for other purposes. The question is, will that happen before, or after, the wild salmon of the Snake River become extinct? Another question: how much more money will be wasted trying to avoid acting responsibly?

[mckernj1]

FYI Leslie, there is a record run of sockeye salmon going up the Columbia River as we speak. They don''t pass through the four dams you want to breach. They pass through five dams that are larger than the Snake River dams, and on which the Public Utility Districts that own them have, in your words, wasted millions of dollars on fish protective measures like the Corps has installed at their dams. Spring Chinook and steelhead that pass through those PUD dams are listed as endangered, but because they are not owned by the Federal Government for whom you and the environmental groups have such disdain, no one is suing to have them removed. But then why should they? Sockeye salmon are doing quite well thank you passing through five PUD dams AND through four Corps dams on their way to and from the ocean. Incidentally, Fraser River sockeye (that river with no dams) are in severe decline as are many other southern British Columbia salmon stocks. By the way, the fishery agencies stopped fish transportation around the four lower Columbia River dams over a decade ago, so spring migrating juvenile salmon are not afforded the added survival transport around four dams would provide. Maybe that has something to do with the listed status of the upper Columbia spring Chinook and steelhead. Do you think?