Category Archives: Salmon

Budd/Deschutes Environmental Stewardship Coalition Update

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UPDATE:  Lacey City Council unanimously passed a resolution to sign the MOU last night.  That means all have agreed and the signing ceremony on Nov. 29th is on.

The Olympia City Council voted unanimously to approve signing the MOU forming the Budd/Deschutes Environmental Stewardship Coalition tonight.  The City of Yelm and the Squaxin Island Tribal Council unanimously voted in favor last week.  If the City of Lacey approves the MOU this Thursday, there will be a signing ceremony at the Squaxin Museum on Nov. 29th at 3:30pm.

Here’s the video from that portion of last night’s meeting.

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New Deschutes Watershed Coalition Formed

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On-the-ground habitat restoration projects will be the focus of a new coalition to jumpstart salmon productivity in the Deschutes River watershed.  The Squaxin Island Tribe and the cities of Olympia, Lacey and Yelm are establishing the Deschutes Watershed Environmental Stewardship Coalition.

“The Deschutes coalition will be an ongoing alliance to fund and conduct on-the-ground projects to restore a healthy watershed,” said Andy Whitener, natural resources director for the tribe.  “The coalition will put words into actions and start restoring productivity to the Deschutes River.”

Initial projects are slated for the 197-acre farm on the Deschutes River near Lake Lawrence that the cities recently purchased as part of mitigation for their new water rights.

 

Smith Farm near Lake Lawrence

In the past, the Deschutes River was the largest producer of coho salmon in deep South Sound.  A landslide in 1990 destroyed the most productive coho tributary in the watershed.  “The impact of that landslide is still being felt throughout the watershed,” said John Konovsky, environmental program manager for the tribe.  “But we know the Deschutes can be a productive salmon stream again.”

“Thirty years ago, we were seeing coho returns in the tens of thousands, now we’re talking about coho runs in the hundreds,” said Jeff Dickison, assistant natural resources director.  “We need to get our hands dirty now to improve coho habitat and bring back stronger runs.”

Because the upper Deschutes River is relatively undeveloped – less than 10 percent has been converted to impervious surface – its still possible to restore salmon habitat and productivity.  “If we restore some habitat and give these fish half a chance, they’ll recover,” Dickison said.

“The tribe’s treaty rights, economy and way of life are meaningless if we aren’t able to harvest salmon,” Whitener said.  “Protecting and restoring salmon habitat is the most important thing we can do to restore coho and protect our treaty right to fish.”

2011 Squaxin Salmon Catches at a Glance

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The Squaxin Island Tribes salmon fisheries started off slow but appear to be at or above recent year averages, with exception of coho.

Our harvest of Chinook was above average at 7, 839.  Approximately 4,968 Chinook made it past our fishing efforts to Tumwater Falls Hatchery.  Tumwater Falls reached the needed egg take goal to continue production for our Fall Chinook run at 4.6 million eggs, as well as 2 million egg surplus to support other programs of need.

Coho for the second straight year was dismal.  We harvested 5,255 coho in 2011.  This number may be bigger given that a number of fishermen sold fish over the bank to theTeamstersBeachvisitors, sport fishermen and others.  It is not too late for fishermen to report over the bank sales by calling the Squaxin NR office.  Coho returns for the entirePuget Soundhave been at all time lows for the past two years. PoorOceansurvival and poorPuget Soundsurvival when our fish are released from the Net Pens are some theories to as why we are seeing low returns recently.

Our chum fisheries are managed according to escapement goals of wild chum stocks.  For example Totten Inlet escapement goal is 11,500 chum.  Each week Kennedy Creek and the surrounding Totten Inlet Creeks are walked to count chum to be used to calculate the escapement.  Each inlet escapement is carefully monitored and fisheries are scheduled accordingly to ensure escapement goals are met.

The last stream count on Kennedy resulted in 5,820 live chum and 278 dead chum.  We are well on our way to the 11,500 escapement goal in Totten.  This years Eld escapement goal is 14,500 chum.

To date our chum catches are at 19,164 and we have only had two directed chum fisheries.   This years chum catches are on track to be at our above our five and ten year average catches.

If you have any questions please contact:

 Joseph Peters

Squaxin Island Tribes Harvest Manager

360-432-3813 or email: jcpeters@squaxin.us.

Pesticides in Streams Harm Coho

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One of the talks at the recent Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference showed how common household pesticides that are considered safe individually are lethal to juvenile coho when they are combined. The author found that the mixing of chemicals was either additive or synergistic meaning that the pesticides reacted with each other to become far more potent then if they were acting alone. Several mixtures that they looked at were found to be 100% lethal to coho.

Since 1996 the Environmental Protection Agency has mandated that chemical mixture testing be done for human health risks. However, in the aquatic environment the testing for chemicals is done only in isolation even though sampling of streams has shown that over 90% of the time multiple pesticides are found mixed together. Other studies have shown that coho essentially disappear from streams when the percent of impervious surface in the watershed reaches 10-15 percent. If legal and common household pesticides are part of this problem then recovering or protecting streams will be a much bigger challenge than previously thought.

http://www.salishseaconference.org/

Excess Nutrients increase Ocean Acidification

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Nutrient loading and its effects on the health of the Salish Sea was a topic covered from a variety of perspectives at the recent Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference in Vancouver, BC.  The most common threat from elevated nutrients is hypoxia, or dangerously low levels of dissolved oxygen as is found at times in Hood Canal.  But another threat is emerging and was discussed at the conference.  Excess nitrogen can add to the decrease in Salish Sea pH we are experiencing from climate change and which is threatening the shellfish industry.

Excess nitrogen in the marine environment fuels algae growth.  When the algae dies and is decomposed by microbial action, CO2 is produced–the more algae, the more CO2.  This CO2 from microbial respiration has the same effect as atmospheric CO2–it lowers pH.  Thus CO2 in marine waters has two sources–the atmosphere and microbial respiration.   And, as anthropogenic sources of nutrients increase algae growth, acidification and all its damaging consequences are accelerating.

What is most alarming is that the combination of the two sources of CO2  (atmosphere and respiration) seems to have more than an additive effect–there is some sort of synergy that lowers pH beyond what would be expected from the sum of the predictions for each of the two sources when modeled alone.  In the context of the relatively limited water circulation found in the Salish Sea and especially in South Sound where nutrients tend to linger for long periods of time, this emerging science increases the urgency to control or treat all sources of excess nutrients to help compensate for the effects of climate change.

2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

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Last week I had the pleasure of attending the 2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference  in beautiful Vancouver, BC with four of my fellow Squaxin NR colleagues.

Throughout the three days I sat in on a number of breakout sessions and reviewed scientific posters that ranged in topics covering Estuary Science, Marine Survival of Salmon, Marine Mammals, and Traditional Foods of the Salish Sea to name a few.  The conference was what I would call a “Salish Sea Scientist Convention,”  a group of scientist striving for a common goal….a healthy and plentiful Salish Sea.

As I reflect back on the sessions I attended at the conference,  most were very interesting, but one in particular about Snow Geese and Bullrush was one of my favorites.

The presentation, “Why are estuarine marshes in the Salish Sea disappearing and what must be done to fix the problem?” from Sean Boyd of the Science & Technology Branch, Environment Canada.  Mr. Boyd shared his studies of how Snow Geese have contributed to the disappearing marshes in Canada. Recent years Snow Geese populations in the Fraser Delta have significantly increased do to favorable breeding grounds and the decline of harvest.    The recent increased population of Snow Geese is decreasing Bullrush density .  Snow Geese eat Bullrush rhizomes and apparently consuming them at the same rate as they are being produced.  With the decline in Bullrush, Mr Boyd explained that these areas were reverting to mudflats of which could have serious impacts on food web.

Mr. Boyd’s recommendations to resolve the decline of Bullrush and increased populations of Snow geese are two fold:  Reduce the  Snow Geese to a manageable population through harvest and apply nitrogen  fertilizer to Bullrush marshes to increase rhizome density.

The 2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference was very informative and I am thankful to attend.

Come support the tribe’s fight to protect fish!

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Update:  Judge Paula Casey ruled in favor of the Squaxin Island Tribe to protect Johns Creek!

Fish runs in Johns Creek, near Shelton, have been shrinking for years.  Wells are stealing water that should flow into Johns Creek.  Ecology has refused to stop new wells until it knows where wells can be safely drilled.

So, the Tribe sued Ecology and Mason County.  In March 2011, Judge Paula Casey issued a great opinion!   She said that Ecology made a big mistake in denying the Tribe’s request.

Come again and watch round 2.   This time, the battle is over what Ecology must do when the case is returned to it for corrective action.  Ecology wants a free pass, but the Tribe wants more — real benefits for fish.  On Friday morning, September 2, the Tribe’s Legal Department will argue the Tribe’s case to Judge Paula Casey in Olympia.

When:  Friday, September 2, 2011, at 9:00 a.m.  It may happen later in the morning, but we will not know until the day before…

Where: Thurston County Superior Court, 2000 Lakeridge Dr. SW, Olympia, WA 98502.  Go to Building #2, Room # 257.

South Sound Salmon Forecast and Squaxin Annual Regulations

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It’s time to get your boats ready and gear mended because fishing season is just around the corner.  We are expecting to see some good returns of Fall Chinook  with approximately 19,500 expected to come back to Tumwater Falls Hatchery this year.   The coho season was a real downer last year with record low returns but the forecast looks promising with expected net pen coho returns to be around 51,000.

Fall chum numbers look to be lower this year from last with 264,000  coming back to our region.  Being an odd year, escapement goals for Totten Inlet (Kennedy) will be 11,500 chum and Eld Inlet (McLane & Perry) will be 14,500 chum.

2011 Deep South Sound Salmon Forecast

You should  see some Pink salmon dipping down in our waters.  South Sound Pink returns for Puyallup and Nisqually are expected to be around the million mark.

Squaxin Island Tribe fishing regulations are available on the web! Currently we have no fisheries open, but when we do open for fishing all emergency regulations will be posted on our website.

Check out the  2011 Squaxin Annual Fishing Regulations here:

Squaxin Annual Chinook Fishing Regulations

Squaxin Annual Coho & Chum Fishing Regulations

If  you have any questions regarding the Squaxin Island Tribe’s salmon fisheries please contact:

Joseph Peters

Fish Biologist/Harvest Manager

jcpeters@squaxin.us

360-432-3813

Court Rules that State’s Inaction Hurting Johns Creek Salmon

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KAMILCHE – A Thurston County Superior Court  ruled in favor of an effort by the Squaxin Island Tribe  to protect the Johns Creek Basin.  Squaxin filed suit  last year asking the state to impose a moratorium on  drilling new wells until the state determines if water  is legally available to supply those wells.

Judge Paula Casey ruled that the state’s inaction was “arbitrary and capricious.”

“We’re elated that the court took a step to protect Johns Creek,” said Andy Whitener, the tribe’s natural resources director.  “But our mission will not be accomplished until state agencies take concrete actions to increase streamflow and benefit salmon.”

The tribe petitioned the state Department of Ecology twice in two years to stop new water withdrawals in the Johns Creek Basin until enough scientific information is available to quantify the environmental impacts of pumping water out of those newly drilled wells.  The state rejected both requests, citing budget constraints.

“Every year since recordkeeping began in the 1950’s, Johns Creek has had less and less water, and in every one of those years, more wells have been drilled in the basin,” Whitener said. “ Not only are minimum flows not being met, but the water shortage gets worse every year.”

Since the state set minimum flows in 1984 (WAC 173-514), more than 200 “permit-exempt” wells have been drilled in the Johns Creek Basin.  State law allows these wells to be drilled without having to first obtain a permit and consents to withdrawals of up to 5,000 gallons a day.

“While we seek cooperation first in all of our natural resources management efforts, there are times when we must go to court to protect our culture and treaty rights,” said Whitener.