Umatilla tribes want to save lampreys

PENDLETON, Ore. -- Indian tribes are trying to restore the Columbia River Basin population of lampreys, eellike parasites that survive by sucking the blood from salmon and other fish.

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla say that lampreys are a traditional food that has become part of tribal culture.

The number of lampreys counted at Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River dropped from 50,000 in 1963 to just 1,000 in 1996.

As a part of an experimental program that aims to study and restore lamprey populations, tribal biologists this month released nearly 600 adult lampreys at three places in the Umatilla River Basin.

"Lamprey are important to the ecosystems as well as important to our tribal culture," said David Close, 33, a tribal member who is leading the research and restoration project. "They're just not glamorous."

The newly released lampreys were captured in December at John Day Dam and in the John Day River and held until they were ready to spawn. They will lay eggs in underwater nests in streambed gravel.

Before they head for the ocean, young lampreys spend five years as blind, toothless filter-feeders buried in river silts. They are an important food source for birds and raccoons. Adults, who return from the ocean laden with fat, are eaten by seals and other mammals.

Scientists think lampreys suffer from the same problems as salmon do -- logging, grazing, dams and development. The decline in salmon numbers probably has hurt lamprey populations that depend on salmon as a host.

In addition, lampreys are poor swimmers and can barely make headway against water rushing down fish ladders built to help migrating fish pass the dams. Recent National Marine Fisheries Service studies have found that only 30 percent to 40 percent of the lampreys that reach the base of Bonneville Dam make it up the ladder.

The downstream trip may be even tougher, because while a few go over spillways, most go through turbines and become easy prey for pike minnows and other predators that wait for them in their battered, disoriented state.

The fisheries service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are developing an experimental flume at Bonneville that should make it easier for lampreys to navigate.

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