Thursday July 9, 2026
Northwest Public Broadcasting —
It’s a tough year for sockeye salmon in the Upper Columbia River. So few sockeye are returning to their spawning grounds that Washington isn’t allowing sockeye fishing from Priest Rapids Dam to Chief Joseph Dam. The season was supposed to open July 1.
It’s hard to predict just how many salmon will return in any given year, but fishery managers said they were shocked with how few sockeye reached Bonneville Dam.
They expected around 275,000 sockeye. Now, the forecast looks like fewer than 80,000 fish will return. That’s about 71% fewer sockeye.
These fish that migrate in the summer naturally have booms and busts. Recent low returns happened in 2011, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Some of the highest counts came in 2022 and 2024.
However, this few sockeye is troubling, said Chad Jackson, a fish biologist in north central Washington for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“ The concern is what’s gonna get back to the spawning grounds and what kind of juveniles are they going to produce in the future that will result in a future adult run back,” he said.
He said biologists will keep an eye out for adult sockeye migration in about four years. That’s when the offspring of these salmon should return to their spawning grounds.
More than 95% of the Upper Columbia sockeye run to Lake Wenatchee or lakes in British Columbia to spawn, Jackson said.