article_snippet: Flying over the Desdemona Sands during a telemetry survey, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife caught a photo of what looked like fish washed up at low tide.
article_snippet: It's not unusual, WDFW biologist Steve Jeffriessaid, to see 4,000 to 5,000 of them hauled out on Desdemona, between the Astoria Bridge and Hammond in the Columbia River, a fraction of the 15,000 regional population from Netarts north to Grays River, Washington. '
article_snippet: them've been moving seasonally into the Columbia River in response to smelt runs forever,' biologist Steve Jeffriessaid said.
article_snippet: In 2010, Pacific smelt, known as eulachon, were marked threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
article_snippet: The past two years have marked the first time since the designation that they've been allowed for commercial and recreational harvest.
article_snippet: Fisheries managers estimated 200 million smelt returning to the Columbia in 2014 and a similarly strong run this year.
article_snippet: But even when the smelt are gone, an estimated 312,600 adult spring chinook salmon are expected to provide a continuing food source.
article_snippet: A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report in October showed a decrease in chinook salmon survival from 90 percent in 2010 to 55 percent in 2014.