What happens to young steelhead after they leave their streams is a question that has intrigued biologists for years. To get at the answers, researchers have implanted tiny transmitters into a few fish and set up receivers to track their movements.

"We're finding that about 25 percent of the fish that reach Hood Canal are not making it past the Hood Canal bridge," Berejikian said. "Half the fish that make it to the bridge don't make it past Pillar Point (west of Port Angeles in the Strait of Juan de Fuca)."

The fish seem to take about two weeks to swim to the Hood Canal bridge, where it appears a good number are probably eaten by other species, he said. After the Hood Canal bridge, they speed up and travel to Pillar Point in about five days, though it isn't clear how many fish that don't arrive are killed and how many just stop along the way.

Berejikian said he is looking for funding to study whether the structure of the Hood Canal bridge causes behavioral changes that make steelhead vulnerable to predation. In any case, if the steelhead program continues on a successful path, the populations should rise, he said.