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42 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, February 13, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classifieds Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 20, 2005 Learning from the ‘Uncle’ By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune COQUILLE — It was Friday along the tidewater banks of the Coquille River that Shannon Hurn first came to meet Uncle Plum. And right away, Hurn knew Uncle Plum would help her and fellow Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife research biologists learn more about why the river’s famed winter steelhead go where they go and do what they do. Volunteer LoysParrish introduced Uncle Plum and Hurn. Parrish found him while fishing off the bank at Coquille River Park, and instantly realized he’d be perfect for Hurn’s study. He’s a wild winter steelhead, 26 inches long, and no worse for the wear after Parrish caught him bait-fishing in the river. After attaching a few tags and a special radio-transmitter to the fish bought by the fish’s namesake — Plum Creek Timber Co. from nearby Coos Bay — Hurn returned Uncle Plum to the Coquille for the start of what will be an intensely documented journey. Advertisement Uncle Plum is the first of 30 Coquille winter steelhead Hurn and her volunteers will catch, radio-tag, release and track as part of study comparing how wild and hatchery steelhead move and interact in the Coquille basin. Using hand-held receivers, Hurn and her band of volunteers will drive, drift and hike the river to track these tagged steelhead. They will log water temperature, stream flow, streamside vegetation, turbidity and whether Uncle Plum and his friends are hanging out in riffles or pools. "Every-other day, I’ll go check where he is," Hurn says. "But once he gets to the spawning grounds, that’s when it becomes more frequent." The meat of the study is to learn when and where and how often the Coquille’s hatchery fish stray onto wild fish spawning grounds. That’s crucial in determining whether the system’s hatchery program is in compliance with Oregon’s native fish policy. Unlike the Rogue River, where hatchery fish are released and collected at Cole Rivers Hatchery, the Coquille has no functioning hatchery. Hatchery steelhead smolts are held at acclimation sites for three weeks and released there in an effort to imprint them to return to those sites. "We’re hoping not to see a lot of straying from our acclimation sites," Hurn says. Hurn also will become privy to an array of other fascinating tidbits about Coquille steelhead if her results resemble similar radio-tagging studies on the Umpqua River basin. There, biologists learned that wild and hatchery steelhead acted very similarly downstream of the North Umpqua’s Rock Creek Hatchery, where they were released as smolts. But hatchery fish occasionally moved upstream of the hatchery into the river’s flies-only section, only to drop back down to the hatchery area after fall’s first rains. Tracking the fish also showed streams where wild winter steelhead exclusively spawned, streams where only wild summer steelhead spawned and areas of overlap. "That was really important," says Dave Loomis, the ODFW’s Umpqua Watershed manager. "It gave us a really good look at what habitat was being used instead of just counting noses of fish." But it also showed some fascinating facts. For instance, Umpqua steelhead moved an average of two miles a day, with a record 13 miles by a summer steelhead during low-water conditions in mid-July. Also, fish caught and released often drop a mile or so downstream and "sulk," and not bite artificial flies for several days, Loomis says. "Fish really do sulk," Loomis says. "After a few days, maybe a week, they’d go back to where they were." Hurn says she plans to catch, tag and release 15 hatchery and 15 wild fish now through March along the lower Coquille. And once caught and tagged, the research fish — even the hatchery fish — will be off-limits to anglers under new rules that make it illegal to keep radio-tagged fish. Already, 15 steelhead have been "sponsored" by various people or organizations that donated $150 per fish. The donation brings with it naming rights as well. Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission chair Marla Rae, for instance, ponied up $300 for the study, naming her fish Herb and Harry "Herb is my late father and Harry is my late father-in-law," says Rae, of Salem. "They were both ornery and both had long, fruitful lives. We’ll see if giving these fish those names will make a difference." To sponsor a fish, telephone Hurn at the ODFW’s Charleston office, 541-888-5515. So far, only Uncle Plum is part of the study because fishing in the lower Coquille has been slow of late, chiefly because of low and clear water conditions, Hurn says. "I need 14 more fish before the end of the month," Hurn says. "I think that’s feasible. "Pray for rain," she says. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers Advertisement s