The Smith River fisheries are classified as part of the Klamath-Rogue Ichthyoprovince. Salmonids are the dominant fishes throughout the Smith River watershed (McCain et al. 1995) with the exception of the estuary. The fish assemblage in the estuary is very diverse and includes many marine species and almost all freshwater fish species of the Smith River (Table 27). The species composition in the estuary varies daily, diurnally, and seasonally due to changing tides, river discharge, and other factors (McCain et al. 1995). Although the Smith River estuary has not been well studied, research in other estuaries suggests that many marine and riverine species depend on estuary habitat for part of their life cycle. Several species of marine invertebrates are also found in the estuary (Monroe et al. 1975).

The fish assemblage of the lower Smith River occurs above the area of tidal influence and below the confluence of the South and Middle Forks. This assemblage includes steelhead, chinook, coho, coastal cutthroat, green sturgeon, Klamath smallscale sucker, coastrange sculpin, prickly sculpin, threespine stickleback, Pacific lamprey, and Pacific staghorn sculpin.

The fish assemblage upstream from the confluence of the South and Middle Forks includes the same species as the lower river assemblage. However, the upper river assemblage has smaller numbers of some species including coastrange sculpin, prickly sculpin, Klamath smallscale sucker, and green sturgeon. The reduced presence of these species is probably due to rapid changes in stream flow in upstream areas which causes slow-swimming species to be swept downstream (McCain et al. 1995).

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