A coho in spawning colors in the stream. Photo by Erik McDonald.[/caption]
- Total live fish seen – 223:
- 94 live coho
- 80 live chum
- 49 live unidentified adult salmon
- 60 coho carcasses counted, 11 pre-spawn mortalities
- 24 chum carcasses found
- 9 redds
Oh Yes! Thank you volunteers!!! What a great service you are providing us with. Wishing you warm fingers and toes!
I am wondering if there is a way to determine which fish are hatchery fish and which are wild?
Hatchery fish (Coho) are missing the adipose fin, a small useless fin just ahead of the tail. A large number of the Coho are from a hatchery on the Green River. We know that because when a hatchery fish carcass is found, the snout is saved to see if it is one of the 10% or so of hatchery fish that are chipped in the snout before release.
Coho and Chum salmon are spawning in these creeks but we don’t know if the non-hatchery fish were from those spawning salmon or strays from other river systems that are more healthy.
Thank you Lee!
I was at Hoodsport Salmon Hatchery last week and they were filling up large Totes with Chum. The State worker said they were trucking these to the local creeks. Can we do this to enhance the Miller / Walker System ? More Dead Fish Happy Holidays to ALL !