Shallow sockeye numbers may hint at light salmon return
Let the salmon run begin.
While the tenacious fish have yet to crest the Ballard Locks on the way to their spawning ground – and the hatchery — the 2014 salmon run is underway. Many species have already made their way through the Ballard Locks this summer. Sadly, at least for sockeye salmon, the number through the fish ladder has dipped very low.
“Unfortunately, we aren’t getting the number we had hoped for in this sockeye run,” said Dani Kendall, program assistant to the Cedar River Salmon Journey at the Ballard Locks.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife predicted 167,000 sockeye, typically the first species to return, would make their way in from the Pacific as instincts draw them home to spawn. Kendall said so far, only 50,000 have come through the Ballard Locks.
“The run got off to a late start,” she said. “In mid-July, there was an average of 2,000 a week coming through the locks, then it just tapered off. It’s unfortunate, considering the high projection.”
As for why the prediction fell so short of the mark, Kendall said the figurative jury was still out.
“I wish I had an answer, but I don’t,” she said.
Jane Kuechle, executive director at the Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, said the chinook numbers are low as well and will also arrive late. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife forecasted 4,703 of the species will show up at hatcheries this years. So far, that’s not the case.
“For the last two years, they have began arrive at in the last week of August,” Kuechle said. “But they’ve been slow coming in the Ballard Locks.”
She said she did not know what hampered the salmon in coming back to their home waters, but said it might .... http://sammamishreview.com/2014/08/20/shallow-sockeye-numbers-may-hint-at-light-salmon-return