Re: “Inside the effort to truck sockeye salmon past Lake Washington” [Nov. 30, Local News]:
Though the latest story about Cedar River sockeye included extra of the true story about this launched species, there was one big omission. No matter whether or not adults are conveyed across the Ballard Locks and Lake Washington, out-migrating fry and smolts nonetheless die in big numbers. Official estimates point out that upward of 70% of the fry (naturally spawned and launched from the Cedar River Hatchery) don’t make it previous the locks into Puget Sound. They die within the lake, they die within the Ship Canal, and, if they’re fortunate sufficient to make it that far, they’re chewed up by the barnacle encrusted locks as they attempt to depart.
With warming waters, elevated flooding, and many others., it’s unlikely that this launched run will ever get massive sufficient once more for anybody to have the ability to fish for them. A greater use of the tens of millions of {dollars} spent yearly could be to help the native Chinook and coho runs, which have been recovering properly, even because the sockeye runs collapse. Some would possibly argue that lowered competitors for restricted spawning areas from a whole lot of hundreds of sockeye adults may very well be contributing to the restoration of native Chinook and coho.
Ralph Naess, Seattle
Source link
