{"id":26423,"date":"2024-10-17T18:14:13","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T18:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/?p=26423"},"modified":"2025-10-24T15:50:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T15:50:06","slug":"coho-a-bright-spot-in-salmon-recovery-gets-brighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildsalmoncenter.org\/2024\/10\/17\/coho-a-bright-spot-in-salmon-recovery-gets-brighter\/","title":{"rendered":"Coho: A Bright Spot in Salmon Recovery Gets Brighter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Oregon, strong coho returns are good news for this year\u2019s fisheries. But what about the future?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An expanded fishing season<\/a> off the Oregon Coast. Early fishing<\/a> at the Columbia River\u2019s Buoy 10. Record returns<\/a> above Willamette Falls. For Oregon coho salmon fishers, an exceptionally good 2024 fishing season has been a welcome surprise. For salmon conservationists, takeaways are a bit more complicated<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we have strong returns like this, we want to understand what\u2019s going well, so we can do more of that, if we can,\u201d says Wild Salmon Center Watershed Restoration Director Jess Helsley. \u201cBut in salmon recovery, there\u2019s an ocean of factors at play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhen we have strong returns like this, we want to understand what\u2019s going well, so we can do more of that.\u201d<\/p>\nJess Helsley, Wild Salmon Center Watershed Restoration Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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Spawning Oregon Coast coho. (PC: Jim Yuscavitch.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Starting with the ocean itself: the biggest single factor shaping Pacific salmon returns<\/strong>. According to experts<\/a>, recent favorable marine conditions are likely why 2024 steelhead runs have been strong across the Pacific Northwest and Canada. Oregon Coast coho, Helsley says, are benefitting from that same good fortune. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that coho have a hard time during warm ocean cycles,\u201d Helsley says. \u201cThe coho runs now making their way into our stronghold rivers had the luck of cooler ocean conditions, and we\u2019re very happy about that. But when ocean conditions shift\u2014and they will\u2014there won\u2019t be a whole lot we can do about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe coho runs now making their way into our stronghold rivers had the luck of cooler ocean conditions, and we\u2019re very happy about that. But when ocean conditions shift\u2014and they will\u2014there won\u2019t be a whole lot we can do about that.\u201d<\/p>\nJess Helsley, Wild Salmon Center Watershed Restoration Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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The Coast Coho Partnership has completed Strategic Action Plans in the Elk, Siuslaw, Nehalem, and Coos Bay. Four more are underway in the Siletz, Coquille, Upper Rogue, and Tillamook Bay.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Another factor is likely boosting coho runs this year, however\u2014one that\u2019s very much in our hands<\/strong>. Since 2017, the WSC-led Coast Coho Partnership has actively restored miles of coho habitat up and down the Oregon coast. And this work is accelerating, thanks to unpr<\/a>ecedented wa<\/a>ves of state and federal funding<\/a> for restoration and climate resilience. As of this year, we\u2019ve launched science-based, watershed-specific restoration plans<\/a> for a dozen coastal salmon systems (and counting), from the Elk River to the Nehalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this work is paying off. According to a 202<\/a>2 report from N<\/a>OAA Fisheries<\/a>, significant habitat restoration could be why Oregon\u2019s E<\/a>SA-listed <\/a>coho populations<\/a> are a \u201cbright spot in salmon recovery\u201d\u2014remaining comparatively stable over the past decade, as other West Coast salmon species have declined<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still too early in the game to measure how, exactly, this work impacts wild coho,\u201d Helsley says. \u201cBut we do know that this kind of targeted habitat restoration is the smartest investment we can make to keep coho population trends going in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe know that this kind of targeted habitat restoration is the smartest investment we can make to keep coho population trends going in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\nJess Helsley, Wild Salmon Center Watershed Restoration Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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In 1998, NOAA listed Oregon Coast coho as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, largely curtailing fishing. Since then, monitoring of coho spawners has shown signs that populations might be on a course toward recovery. (Graph courtesy NOAA Fisheries.) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If we can\u2019t control the ocean, we can make sure that Oregon coho have access to more cold, clean, off-channel habitat during their time in freshwater<\/strong>. Right now, Helsley says, coho are limited by a lack of quality habitat before they even make it to sea. And that\u2019s a bottleneck we can fix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the past century or so, we blocked off a lot of the best places for juvenile salmonids to rear and grow strong,\u201d Helsley says. \u201cWe can\u2019t fix everything, but we can target the most strategic, high-yield projects in each river system. And that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing now with projects like T<\/a>ioga Fa<\/a>lls<\/a> and Cedar Creek<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Floodplain reconnection work at a restoration project site in the Siuslaw watershed, Oregon Mid-Coast. (PC: Brian Kelley @brianfi<\/a>lm<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

From removing fish barriers to reconnecting floodplains, the Coast Coho Partnership has already made life better for wild fish in systems like the Elk, Siuslaw, Coos, and Nehalem<\/strong>. Over the next decade, Helsley says we can build on the promise of strong coho years like this one\u2014provided that federal investments continue, and state agencies make good on co<\/a>mmitments<\/a> to better steward forestlands and estuaries<\/a> across the Oregon Coast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will we seize this opportunity to shift a “bright spot in salmon recovery” into true light at the end of the tunnel? For coho\u2014a cherished species still teetering on the brink\u2014what we do next will show our commitment to their recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe can\u2019t fix everything, but we can target the most strategic, high-yield projects in each river system. And that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing now.\u201d<\/p>\nJess Helsley, Wild Salmon Center Watershed Restoration Director<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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Leaping Oregon Coast coho, Nehalem River. (PC: Danita Delimont\/Alamy.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>

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