CalTrout’s Sonar Counts 6,000 Salmonids in South Fork

The 2024-25 season had already seen 6,000 salmonid individuals migrate into the South Fork of the Eel by December 1st.

CalTrout Project Manager Matt Metheny talks about the Sound Metrics Dual Frequency Identification Sonar (DIDSON) camera system and estimates of the number of salmon and steelhead in the South Fork Eel River. The sonar records fish as they migrate upstream past Meyers Flat which sits about ten miles upstream from the confluence of the South Fork Eel and Eel rivers. The DIDSON Sonar provides a cross-sectional view of the river and captures video 24 hours a day, except during hazardous flow conditions.

In the 2022-2023 season, the sonar estimated nearly 5,000 fish passing through the South Fork of the Eel. Compared to the historic runs estimated from old cannery records, salmonid populations remain well below what is needed for species recovery in the Eel.

Metheny says the eventual removal of Scott Dam due its to seismic safety concerns will give Eel River salmonids access to the cold water in the headwaters of the main stem and therefor a fighting chance at species recovery.