Boater,

Predators eat prey. That's the way of the world. The difference is that Lake Washington is a highly modified environment. The primary predators (unless I'm mistaken) are native species - northern pikeminnow and cutthroat trout. Large and smallmouth bass may also be having at them, but they probably don't account for a major share of the predation, as the sockeye migration into the lake occurs while water temperatures are still a tad cool for bass to be at their most active.

The survival strategy for species that have to run a predator guantlet like this is to have nearly all the fry migrate at the same time, overwhelming the predators. It's a density-dependent mortality that saturates the predators appetites for a few days. The fry then disperse into and hopefully throughout the lake so that the predators have to work a little harder to get a meal.

What would you suggest be done about the situation?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.