Yankee Fork chinook with tails cut off

[jb_SRB]

I was up the Yankee Fork a few weeks back and while checking the area out found a hole in the river with about 50 dead Chinook laying in it. When I started looking closer I noticed that they all had their tails cut off and the tails were also laying in the hole. They did not look to be in bad shape (in terms of ragged and rotten, aside from being dead). When I got home I did a quick internet search and found one article that mentioned researchers may do this to count fish.
OK.
Recently I got to thinking, however, that these fish appeared to all be unclipped fish, and recall, in good shape (i.e., maybe not spawned out). I can't imagine anyone doing something sinister here, but I am curious if anyone knows what the story might be behind what I saw up there?
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[psanders71]

Sounds absolutely sickening... Did you happen to get any pics?
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[Biigfish33]

Even though the fish were not clipped, idfg and tribal members do run a sort of hatchery program up the Yankee fork. they use a weir to trap the fish, and not clipping the fins gives them a better chance to make it back. I would assume they had been spawned out, then put back into the ecosystem. I couldn't tell you why the tails would be cut off.
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[Fishman887]

Since all salmon die after spawning they can get a population estimate by counting dead fish along the stream. They cut the tails off so they don't double count on subsequent surveys
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[jb_SRB]

Similar to what I read, just didn't realize they had a "hatchery" program up there. Thanks for the info.
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[iliketofish]

+1

It's pretty common to cut the tails off, or do something similar to mark the fish, during carcass surveys. Which help the managers determine things like escapement estimates and spawn timing and location. I would assume that's what is going on there.

I think Mike Rowe even did a carcass survey (while wielding a machete...) a while back in California on the show Dirty Jobs.
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[Biigfish33]

tribal members release unclipped smolts into the Yankee fork with pit tags like other hatchery fish. I guess I shouldn't have called it a hatchery operation that occurs In the drainage,, but the smolts are being released to boost returns for tribal harvest and overall protection of the species in the Yankee fork. Here's a link that explains it better than I did. Sorry for the confusion

http://www.cbbulletin.com/422091.aspx
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