Originally Posted By: Smalma
FishDoctor -
The thing that confuses me is if Puget Sound is toxic to steelhead why is that fish like sea-run cutthroat who smolt at the same size and time as the steelhead are doing relatively well through out Puget Sound?


Are the two living in the same water?

If folks are ever to understand what is happening with the steelhead somehow they will need to parse out how various factors are differently affecting other species that are doing better.

Curt


Curt,
Its a toxic mix of thousands of chemicals as you know. If indeed cutts are faring better then it would be of some hope that our wastes are not killing everything (yet). There are a lot of possible problems for steelhead in the sound and rivers also as this study outlines and discusses. PCB, Estrogen's and flame retardants are just the tip the iceburg IMO. Steelhead may be exposed to more"hot-spots" in the sound (and rivers) than cutts, or there may be many other reasons for a difference in survival. Bottom line: we need to keep our waters cleaner or face the fact that these fish are going away. The coastal waters are cleaner, and fish dont have the toxins like the sound does. There seems to be a good correlation of survival to adult with water quality IMO. >The closer to the city, the worse it is. Even the Nisqually fish are HOT with PCB's and other toxins.

http://marinesurvivalproject.com/wp-cont...port-FINAL.pdf.

source:
Puget Sound Steelhead Marine Survival: 2013-2015 research findings summary
Puget Sound Steelhead Marine Survival Workgroup December 31, 2015
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FishDoctor