Where have all the native fish gone? The fate of Lewis and Clark

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Where have all the native fish gone? The fate of
Lewis and Clarks fishes of the Lower Columbia
River

• Virginia L. Butler
• Portland State University
• Portland, Oregon

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Project Goals

• Use historic fish species accounts and crude
  abundance measures from Lower Columbia R.
  archaeo. sites as baseline records of fish
  assemblages before Euro-American arrival
• Compare ancient records to contemporary fish
  catches to identify changes
• Educational show importance of native fishes to
  biotic history of region
• Research help isolate causes for native
  species declines

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Public Education Values

• Study area is close to or within urban centers
• Where people live and work (Miller and Hobbs
  2002)
• The weeds in a city lot convey the same lessons
  as the redwoods (Leopold 1948)

• Coincides with 200 yr anniversary of Lewis
  Clark Corps of Discovery

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Overview

• L C journals (Nov. 1805 - April 1806)
• 1st written descriptions of Lower Columbia fishes
• show importance of fish to explorers diet
• show importance of fish to Native Americans
• Archaeological Fish Bone Records
• add additional information on native fishes
• prior to Euro-American settlement
• Modern Fish Records
• compared to 200 year old records
• demonstrate magnitude of change in short period

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Study Area
Moulton 1990
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Which Fish Species Did Lewis Clark Observe?

• 7 kinds of fish 3 salmon or trout (including
  red charr), sturgeon, flounder, skait, and
  anchovie
• red charr --- Coues, Cutright, Burroughs,
  Moulton-- assigned to sockeye salmon

Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)
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• Spawning location and season suggests red
  charr is not sockeye

• sockeye spawn in streams connected to lakes
• historic sockeye spawning habitat

Columbia R.

• sockeye run up Columbia R.- May to September
  (Clark notes red charr at mouth of Columbia on
  Nov 11)

USGS National Atlas
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Red Charr probably Coho Salmon (O. kisutch)

• Coho spawn in Washington/Oregon coastal streams
  at Col. R. mouth
• migration runs from Sept-November (when Clark
  noted fish)
• turns red during spawning

coho
sockeye
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L Cs Anchovie

• Detailed descriptionunambiguous assignment to
  Eulachon-smelt (Thaleichthys pacificus)
• Anadromous, small, schooling fish, rich in oil
  enter Columbia Dec-Feb and spawn in tributary
  rivers within 160 km of mouth
• Lewis notes, Feb 24
• they are so fat they require no additional
  sauce, and I think them superior to any fish I
  ever tasted, even more delicate and lussious than
  the white fish of the lakes which have heretofore
  formed my standart of excellence among the
  fishes.

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Fish in Dietary

• Fish important to group survival
• 163 days in area, fish listed as food 20 of the
  days
• For 8 days fish was main food item
• Clark notes
• November 13 nothing to eate but pounded fish
  which we Keep as a reserve and use in Situations
  of this kind.
• November 25 we Dined in the Shallow Bay on Dried
  pounded fish
• November 29 our diat at this time and for
  Severall days past is the pounded fish we
  purchased at the falls boiled in a little Salt
  water 
• December 2 I am verry unwell the dried fish
  which is my only diet does not agree with me and
  Several of the men Complain of a lax, and
  weakness

-
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Fish in Dietary

• Fish important to group survival

Dried salmon (mainly from The Dalles region
sturgeon
eulachon
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L C Dietary

• Yet. expedition members only went fishing on two
  days. Most time spent HUNTING
• Expedition killed 116 elk and 14 deer between
  Dec. 1 March 10
• Lewis estimated group required each day
• 4 deer OR
• 1 elk 1 deer OR
• 1 bison

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Why hunt elk/deer vs.
Fish for salmon, and resident fishes?

• Cultural preference?
• b) Foraging theory?

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Foraging Theory
In the subsistence quest, human predators have
choices to make..
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Foraging Theory
What resource to choose???
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Foraging Theory
What resource to choose???
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Foraging Theory

• Predator takes highest ranked prey shifts to
  lower ranked prey when abundance of high ranked
  prey declines.
• Body size good proxy for ranklarger the body,
  higher the rank. Large terrestrial game ranks
  higher than fish, thus would be the first choice
  food.
• Expedition had firearms effective in hunt
  lacked local knowledge of fish, which would have
  increased chances for fishing success
• L C in the area when salmon relatively rare
• All things considered, hunting elk/deer was the
  optimal food-getting strategy

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Archaeological Records of L C Fishes

• Journal entries emphasize the importance of
  fishmainly salmon-- to Native Americans
• Archaeological animal bone records support this
  viewand show wide range of fishes also important
  

Archaeological Sites

• Fishbone studied from Portland Basin

Cathlapotle
Fish bone records
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Archaeological Records of L C Fishes
Expedition visited Cathlapotle
On March 29, Lewis writes we arrived at the
village of the Cath XQualth-lah-poh-tle wich
consists of 14 large wooden houses... they had
large quantities of dryed Anchovies strung on
small sticks by the gills and others which had
been dryed in this manner, were now arranged in
large sheets with strings of bark and hung
suspended by poles in the roofs of their houses
they also had an abundance of sturgeon and
wappetoe they were very hospitable and gave us
anchovies and wappetoe to eat
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Cathlapotle

• recently excavated by Portland State Univ, in
  collaboration with USFWS, Chinook Tribe
• site excavated over 4 field seasons
• age--AD 1450-1830
• large, residential base, occupied throughout year
• over 12,000 fish bones identified
• 12 fish species present

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Cathlapotle Fishes
Salmonidae salmon and trout Thaleichthys
pacificus eulachon Acipenser sp.
sturgeon Ptychocheilus oregonensis Mylocheilus
caurinus Acrocheilus alutaceus Rhinichthys
osculus Catostomus macrocheilus
Noted by L C
Minnows and Suckers
Percopsis transmontana sandroller
Gasterosteus aculeatus stickleback
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salmonids eulachon
Backwater Sloughs - minnows-suckers, sturgeon,
stickleback
Ken Ames
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Weirs on 2nd or 3rd order streams
The Cascades
Cathlapotle
Willamette Falls
Pettigrew 1990 basemap
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Frequency of Fish FamilyCathlapotle All Samples
Combined
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Sampling, esp. recovery methods, affects results
of analysis
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Frequency of Fish Family--Cathlapotle
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1888 USCGS
Recent Projects Columbia Slough- Smith-Bybee Lakes
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Fish Remains Analysed--
Fieldwork Directed by Ellis (AINW), Pettigrew
(Cascadia)
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Columbia Slough Sites
gt 1 mm
gt 3.2 mm
AD 200- 1250
AD 1250- 1750
600 BC AD 200
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Status of Fishes Today
Salmon and Trout -- most Columbia River stocks
listed as Endangered

• Estimated 10-16 million fish migrated yearly up
  the Columbia before Euro-American settlement
• Only about 2.5 million make the journey today
• Most are hatchery reared

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Status of Fishes Today
Sturgeon (2 species white and green)

• Populations crashed in late 19th century from
  overfishing

• Today lower Columbia white sturgeon populations
  healthy

• Green sturgeon? recent petition to list as
  Endangered was rejected
• March 2004, U.S. district court set aside this
  findingrequires NOAA Fisheries reconsider status
• Stay tuned.

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Status of Fishes Today

• Eulachon
• Until 1994 Columbia River had the worlds largest
  run of eulachon and supported large commercial
  and recreational fisheries
• 1994-2000, Columbia River populations extremely
  reduced
• 1st major fishing regulations imposed
• Petition to list as Endangered under ESA
• NOAA Fisheries rejected
• Recent increases in populations

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Status of Backwater Fish Communities
? ? ?
Ken Ames
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1980s Fish Sampling
WASHINGTON
Cathlapotle
Lewis R.
Modern Fish Sampling
OREGON
Vancouver
Modern Fish Sampling
Columbia River
Portland
base map U.S.G.S. National Atlas
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Modern Fish Assemblages

• Vancouver, WA
• Monthly collections over 2.5 years (early 1980s)
• multiple sampling strategies nets, seines, weirs
  - various mesh size
• 5620 individual fish recorded, 23 fish species
• records published in Knutzen and Cardwell (1984)
• Portland, OR
• Monthly or bimonthly samples, May-October, 1986
• Mainly electrofishing
• 29 collection stations
• 747 individual fish recorded, 16 fish species
• records published in Fishman (1986)

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Modern Sampling
Vancouver, WA
Portland, OR
- 23 species--12 are exotic - 88 of fish
captured are non-native
- 16 species--10 are exotic - 76 of fish
captured are non-native - Carp dominates 26 of
catch by number 42-97 by weight
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Exotic Fishes Dominate Backwater Habitats
white crappie

• First introduced to Columbia R. system in 1870s
  (mainly from E.North America)
• Within 50 yrs, 15 alien species were
  well-established
• Alien species prey on natives species, compete
  for food/space cause major habitat change
• Some alien species target of SPORT FISHERY,
  major revenue source
• Results highlight homogenization of fish
  assemblages in North America

FishBase
carp
small mouth bass
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Introduced Fishes Across U.S. States
percent of a states fish fauna that is non-native
from Rahel 2000
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Pairwise Comparison of State Fish Faunas
- 200 yrs ago two states shared NO species -
today share 33 species
Montana
Arizona
from Rahel 2000
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Homogenization of fish biota like homogenization
of cultural cuisine
carp
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Conclusions

• Most everyone knows that PNW salmon
  populations are in severe decline and much
  reduced from 200 yrs ago
• There is much less awareness that nearly all
  native riverine and backwater fishes are in
  severe decline or are being replaced by alien
  species
• Lewis and Clark accounts and archaeological
  fishbone records provide benchmarks for local
  fish faunas prior to species introductions and
  habitat modifications
• By comparing fish records from 200 years ago
  to those today, the magnitude of the changes in
  specific locales becomes clear
• The Pacific Northwest draws identity and pride
  from its fishes. LC records and archaeology
  demonstrates these impressive creatures have an
  ancient record and deserve a place here long into
  the future.

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