Salmon Recovery

Salmon Recovery Basics

Current salmon recovery problems in Washington: 

#1. Sockeye: Fry are released from Cedar River hatchery immediately after hatching and forced to spend 1 year in Lake Washington before they are able to leave for salt water.  During this time roughly 95% of fry released are eaten by predators in the lake.  

Solutions:

1. Maintain sockeye for 1 year in protected freshwater raceways before release allowing them to immediately migrate to salt water.  

2. Reduce predator fish in lake through fishing targeting bass, perch cutthroat trout and Northern Pike Minnow that are the main predators.  

#2 Seals and sea lions position themselves in front of Ballard locks to intercept returning salmon that have difficulty locating the fish ladder needed to complete their journey.  

Solution:

1. Allow killing of pedipods within ¼ mile of locks.  Previous attempts to ship back to California, use noise to frighten or even rubber bullets have not worked.  Willamette River and Mouth of Columbia River allow this type of predator control and it helps salmon returns. 

During my time spent serving on various salmon related committees a number other problems and solutions have been discussed.  Some take massive amounts of capitol to correct but in my opinion, the two issues noted above can change returns dramatically and would be good investments for the amount of capitol required to achieve results. Anything that you can do to support these ideas is appreciated. 

I have also spent several years volunteering at the Issaquah hatchery, starting as a docent.  The hatchery is always looking for volunteer docents to teach children about the salmon life cycle. 

Get involved. You will be surprised what you can learn about the needs of salmon as a result.