Srsc

Tribes monitor fish in nearshore ‘nursery’

LA CONNER— Nearly every day in the spring through early fall, somewhere in the Skagit basin and San Juan Islands, a crew from the Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC) is sampling fish populations.

Rain or shine, in smooth waters or blustery wind, the crew pulls beach seines and sets fyke traps to count and measure fish before returning them to the water. Crew members also record water temperature, salinity, depth, velocity, substrate and vegetation. As a result, SRSC, the natural resources arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes, has a 15-year (and counting) comprehensive database of the way fish use nearshore habitat.

The nearshore is a nursery to a variety of fish including sculpins, perch, smelt, herring and salmon. Puget Sound chinook salmon, listed as “threatened” by the federal Endangered Species Act, depend on estuaries for extended rearing during outmigration.

Monitoring this habitat is a crucial, yet often underfunded, aspect of the salmon recovery effort, said Eric Beamer, SRSC’s research director. Without it, nobody knows whether a restoration project did what it was supposed to do. (more…)

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Tribes’ beaver research featured in Seattle Times

The Skagit River System Cooperative (SRSC)  has found evidence that beavers living in the tidal marsh are creating prime salmon habitat. The SRSC is the natural resources arm of the Swinomish and Sauk-Suiattle tribes.

The Seattle Times reports:

Today, only about 6 percent of the tidal scrub shrub habitat is left in the Skagit River Delta, and that’s better than a lot of places where it’s gone altogether. (more…)

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Scientists receive $900,000 federal grant

Greg Hood of SRSC is among a group of scientists receiving a grant to devise a computer model of the Skagit River Delta and Skagit and Padilla bays if the oceans rise.

The Skagit Valley Herald:

Rising ocean levels could change change approaches to restoration of salt marshes and the Skagit River estuary that the threatened Chinook and other salmon species need to thrive.

Three Western Washington scientists — Greg Hood, John Rybczyk and Tarang Khangaonkar — will build a computer model to predict what could happen to the Skagit River Delta and Skagit and Padilla bays if the oceans rise. Scientists say the model will help them make decisions about where to best to restore salmon habitat restoration and what might happen if dikes are removed.

(more…)

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Landmark “Pathway to Recovery” For Skagit River Chinook Completed

LA CONNER (June 14, 2005) — After more than a decade of hard work, a groundbreaking recovery plan for Skagit river chinook salmon was completed on Friday.

“The plan is a pathway to recovery for wild chinook salmon,” said Lorraine Loomis, fisheries manager with the Swinomish Tribe. “We will not rest until we have achieved our recovery goals, and this is a huge step toward bringing back healthy wild salmon runs.”

The Skagit Chinook Recovery Plan has a wide array of stakeholders, and it already has the endorsement of three: the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). The tribes worked in close collaboration with WDFW to ensure that the strongest possible plan would be developed.

(more…)

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