Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe transfers fish into new net pens
Juvenile coho salmon transferred into Port Gamble Bay this winter are settling into a brand new net pen to rear until they are released this spring. After the 25-year-old net…
Elwha Restoration Roundup: Record Chinook Return, Salmon Habitat Improving
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe says that changes to the Elwha River are occurring faster than anticipated since deconstruction of the two fish-blocking dams on the Elwha River started in…
Marine survival research focuses on juvenile salmon, preferred prey
Fisheries managers studying poor ocean survival of salmon are concentrating their research on juvenile fish and their preferred prey.
Several tribes are collaborating on studies slated to begin in 2014 as part of the Salish Sea Marine Survival Project. The Tulalip, Nisqually, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Lummi, Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes are among the collaborators that have signed on to sample zooplankton throughout the region.
Zooplankton and ichthyoplankton are the preferred prey for juvenile salmon. Researchers want to find out whether prey availability has changed in the Salish Sea during the critical period of juvenile salmon development, leading to poor growth and survival. (more…)
Tulalip Tribes turn “gulch” into Greenwood Creek
The Tulalip Tribes recently improved rearing habitat in a small coastal stream popular with juvenile chinook.
Known to locals as “the gulch,” the unnamed stream had one of the highest densities of juvenile chinook of all the coastal streams sampled in the Whidbey basin by the Tulalip Tribes and Skagit River System Cooperative. During one electrofishing survey, natural resources staff found 280 chinook among a total of 600 juvenile salmon that also included coho and other species.
“They can live there for many weeks, so it’s more than just acclimating,” said Derek Marks, Timber Fish and Wildlife manager for Tulalip. “They’re actually rearing and growing in there.”
Despite those numbers, the tribes saw room for improvement. At the time, the gulch was little more than a ditch overgrown with invasive plants. Old county stormwater assessments referred to it as Greenwood Creek, probably named for a nearby grange.
Port Gamble S’Klallam has Surprising Results in Nearshore Study
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe is finding more juvenile salmon in small bays than other nearshore environments, including large estuaries in Hood Canal and Admiralty Inlet. “We’re not seeing fish…
Upper Skagit Tribe surveys habitat use by juvenile chinook, steelhead
The Upper Skagit Tribe and the University of Washington (UW) are doing a two-year study examining seasonal habitat preferences for yearling chinook and steelhead in the Skagit River.
Not all juvenile chinook salmon migrate out to sea right away. They spend a few months to two years in freshwater and estuarine habitat. This study will help researchers learn more about the fish that stay in the Skagit watershed’s freshwater habitat during the first year of life. (more…)
Skokomish Tribe studying stomach contents of juvenile salmon
The Skokomish Tribe is studying the diet of juvenile salmon that have taken up residence in the nearly 400-acres of newly restored Skokomish tidelands in southern Hood Canal. After gently…
Trees floating behind dam contribute to salmon recovery
ALDER – Over 100 trees that have fallen into the reservoir behind Alder Dam will be put to use constructing engineered logjams to create salmon habitat on Ohop Creek.
“Trees that wash into the lake from the river and get stuck behind the dam need to be removed before they become a nuisance,” said David Troutt, natural resources manager for the Nisqually Tribe, which is spearheading the effort to gather the logs. “We’re just taking them out and putting them to good use.” Juvenile salmon find both food and shelter within logjams. The structures also slow the flow of the creek, easing adult salmon migration.
“We know logjams benefit salmon because we’ve been monitoring other restoration projects. We really see a difference in the section of river with logjams and those without,” Troutt said. “There are a lot more salmon around the logjams.”
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Herald reports on EPA grants to tribes
The Daily Herald of Everett reported on the $2 million in grants awarded to tribes by the EPA, describing how the Stillaguamish and Tulalip tribes plan to use the money:…
Squaxin Island Tribe Tracking Coho in Sherwood Creek
ALLYN – A pair of smolt traps is helping the Squaxin Island Tribe get a better picture of natural salmon production in the Sherwood Creek watershed.
“The Sherwood watershed is one of the most complicated systems in the tribe’s treaty-reserved fishing area,” said Joe Peters, fisheries management biologist for the Squaxin Island Tribe. Tribal biologists are unsure about how many coho are rearing annually in Shumacher Creek, a tributary to Sherwood Creek, which flows into Mason Lake. Sherwood Creek flows out of Mason Lake.
One smolt trap – a safe and effective devices for catching and counting juvenile salmon as they migrate to sea – is installed at the mouth of Schumacher Creek in the upper watershed just above Mason Lake. Another is operating near the mouth of Sherwood Creek close to where it enters Puget Sound.
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