Jet (Skok) is still alive. Appears to be right at the Hood Canal Bridge. Looks like he has aborted no less than four attempts to swim past the bridge thus far. Must be some scary things happening near that bridge....
The bridge was not designed to allow fish to swim past it, if those fish swim in the upper 3 meters of the water column. Major design flaw!
Design flaws can be mitigated. Top ten solutions:
1. Fish friendly culverts could be installed in the bridge pontoons
2. Smolts could be trucked from the south side of the bridge to the north side.
3. Fish feeders could be retrofitted along the south side of the bridge. Fish could be fed to maturity; whereupon, they could return to their Hood Canal stream of origin.
4. Bridge span could be opened for fish passage twenty hours per day.
Car usage could be limited to an AM and PM peak travel period of two hours each.
5. A catch and release smolt fishery from the bridge could be established. Anglers would be required to "catch" on the south side of bridge, and "release" on the north side. Selective gear rules only. No license required.
6. WDFW could use seals, sea lions, and cormorants to train smolts to dive under the pontoons of the floating bridge.
7. In keeping with the core principle that no fish can be wasted, native and non native gillnetters could be allowed to set nets with one inch mesh off the south side of the bridge.
8. Escapement numbers for salmon/steelhead in Hood Canal rivers could be lowered.
9. The bridge could be demolished following a ruling favorable to fish by the Ninth Circuit Court.
10. ...............................................................(your call)
Sorry so many smolts are being lost so soon. It's fun following their progress.
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