The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note of any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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Salmon Fish trap, taking them all (1914)
The Northwest corner of what is now the US, has been a verdant cornucopia of life sustaining natural resources for eons. This abundance of nature's blessings had sustained the indigenous people here for at least 10,000 years. The forests and waters were the very core and substance of the sophisticated culture of the Northwest Coastal Salish as reflected in their traditions, totems, and art work.
When white Europeans began settling in the Pacific Northwest in the 1850s they too marveled at the abundance of natural resources that, in their minds would be theirs just for the taking. They appeared to believe that these resources would go on giving forever. The most immediate focus of their desire was lumber with enormous forests of Western redcedars (Thuja plicata) and Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) among others covering every inch of the land. At the same time it was impossible for them to ignore the numerous streams and rivers that fed into Puget Sound, all teeming with huge salmon.
A 8" 2" Old growth Douglas Fir slab, US Forest Service, Glacier WA. (8/11/13)
Please continue below the clump of salmon eggs.
These streams also had falls or significant elevation drops that could be used to power lumber mills, mechanical at first but shortly, the tumbling waters turned electricity generators. The area quickly boomed. Before long Bellingham was shipping lumber around the world. And then, the Pacific American Fisheries Canning Company located on the Bellingham Bay waterfront developed the largest fish cannery in the world that also had world-wide distribution.
Pacific American Fisheries Cannery at Bellingham, the Largest in the World.
PAF and other canneries were supplied by using the most efficient methods to catch the salmon. They strung wire nets across stream and river mouths to funnel all fish headed upstream to spawn into traps. Each trap could hold up to 30 tons of salmon at a time (see first photo). Other "fishing" methods included dynamite blasting in rivers which was legal in Washington State in the 1890s.
From an entrepreneurial point of view, Bellingham and the northwest were rocking. But at what cost? The cost was destruction of the very resource itself. Today the old-growth timber is gone except for a few stands that have been preserved. The land, flora, and fauna that were integral to sustenance and culture of the indigenous peoples were rapidly disappearing. After a fish trap was set, there would be no fish upstream for the Native Americans who had depended on them for eons. Most of the wild salmonids, Chinook, Sockeye, and Coho salmon in particular are now on threatened or endangered species lists as their returns continue to diminish.
Northwest Coastal Salish depiction of spawning salmon
Each step of "progress" had lasting environmental consequences. The clear-cut logging resulted in a major disruption of an ecosystem that functioned so symbiotically for eons. The huge trees and undergrowth had maintained stable riparian soil by dampening the erosive effects of the necessary but prodigious rain. The vegetation along the streams shaded and cooled the water and maintained higher oxygen content for salmon. In turn after the salmon spawned, they died willing their rotting carcasses to the ecosystem as nutrients for stream critters, for eagles, bears, and other carnivores to eat. Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife has determined that at least 83 species receive nutrients from the decaying salmon carcasses.
In addition to over-fishing and over logging, the lumber mills along the rivers and creeks blocked fish from returning to their ancestral spawning grounds and they stirred up the water and buried spawning beds. Soon the huge hydroelectric dams, even with their well intended but minimally functional fish ladders, further reduced the fish stocks.
Restoration efforts continued::
I previously described several local remedial efforts to restore salmon spawning habitats as one means of coaxing the fish back to nature. However, the many facets of salmon restoration, recovery, and enhancement have threads that run far beyond what can be covered in this diary. Briefly, these threads include: research and practice of several science disciplines, lobbying of interest groups (e.g., sport and commercial fishing), state, local, tribal, federal, and international law and policy, as well as social and cultural ramifications. So extensive and intricate is this web of interests and agencies involved in the restoration of this precious resource that in Washington State, there is a Governor's Salmon Recovery Office, charged by the legislature with overseeing all aspects of the salmon recovery efforts throughout the State.
The Salmon Hatchery
As previously described, local and State efforts at habitat restoration appear to have been at least partially effective at luring back spawning salmon. A second line of attack to restore salmon stocks has been to raise fish in hatcheries and then to release them into restored streams. As early as the 1890s salmon stock were noted to be declining. In 1895 Washington State opened the first Fish hatchery in Kalama WA on the Columbia River in hopes that artificial spawning would restore the salmon. However, although fish hatcheries have been operating in WA State for nearly 120 years their effectiveness at restoring wild salmon runs of old is increasingly called into question.
Although the efforts are old, it was not until the Endangered Species Act (ESA), 80 years later in 1974, that serious action was taken to preserve and restore this precious cultural and financial resource.
At first glance, strategically located fish hatcheries would seem to be at least part of the answer to preserving the legacy and runs of wild or native salmon. Currently 88% of Steelhead and 75 % of salmon caught in Puget Sound are hatchery raised. Between commercial and sport fisheries, these salmonids are worth billions of dollars annually in Washington State alone. Under the current fisheries management, without the hatchery fish, the native stock would clearly be endangered if they survived at all and a major State industry would take a huge hit.
The Salmon Hatchery at the mouth of Whatcom Creek, Bellingham, WA
The Perry Center Salmon Hatchery
As part of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WSDFW) fish hatchery system, this hatchery is currently operated by Bellingham Technical College (BTC) employees, faculty, and students as part of their Fisheries and Aquaculture Sciences Program. This program is one of only two, 2-year degree programs on the west coast that prepares students to directly enter aquaculture positions. The hatchery facility (above) was dedicated in 2013 as a public-private cooperative effort between the State, the College, and local business stakeholders. As will be illustrated below, students get their hands both wet and dirty with plenty of lab and hands-on training as they become involved in all aspects of this aquacultural process.
When BTC began operating and maintaining the state hatchery at the mouth of the creek in 1978, Whatcom Creek had no natural salmon runs. Today, Whatcom Creek boasts multiple healthy runs of salmon species.
The hatchery process involves a number of steps before the salmon smolts can be sent out to sea on their own. First, viable salmon eggs must be acquired by capturing salmon returning from the sea to a natal stream. Salmon, having been hatched and reared in the hatchery and then released into the waters of Whatcom Creek, will return to that stream. And indeed they do. Many will return to travel up the fish ladder to the hatchery where they are held until harvested.
Currently a variety of salmon species return to the creek and to the hatchery. These include runs of Chinook, Chum, Coho, and pinks, along with the occasional steelhead trout.
The full process of the hatchery is illustrated below:
The Return:
The fish return up the fish ladder on the bank of the Creek and are held in holding ponds.
The Fish Ladder
The ladder to Holding Pond
Once the pond is full, the fish are collected and cold conked before they are opened up for egg extraction.
Female Chum Salmon here are sacrificed for their eggs (11/26/13)
Put into totes (11/26/14)
The fish are opened up and egg sacs are taken into buckets before they are incubated in the hatchery.
Students and faculty in this program gather & process over 25 million eggs which are placed in regional and state hatcheries as well as back into streams through the Northwest. In doing so, they work with regional salmon enhancement groups (Nooksack, Skagit & Stillaguamish) to restore habitat.
School children also receive instruction in the hatchery process from BTC aquaculture students. (11/26/13)
Chum Salmon awaiting processing (11/26/13)
Carcasses deemed edible are sent to a local fish processor for filleting and packaging and are distributed through local food banks at thanksgiving time. Fish deemed not fit for consumption are sent to another processor to become fertilizer.
The harvested eggs then are taken into the hatchery and placed in incubator trays to be fertilized with male sperm. They will remain in these trays until they hatch and develop further.
Incubator trays of eggs (12/10/13)
Chinook Salmon eggs with eyes and new alevins (hatchlings) (12/10/13)
After several months, the eggs hatch into alevins or sac fry as they are sometimes called at this stage. Note that as the eggs begin to mature, the unhatched roe develop eyes. When they finally hatch, they retain the nutrient sac that nourishes them until they are mature enough to eat on their own. After hatching, these Chinook alevins, are kept in trays for about 4 month, until the yolk sac is absorbed.
When mature enough to eat on their own the fry are released into rearing ponds for further maturation in a safe environment. They are essentially poured from their incubator trays into a pipe and flushed into their temporary home where they are fed a nutritious diet.
Recently hatched Chinook alevin to become fry (3/6/14)
Note beginnings of vertical stripes on this Chinook fry or alevin that serves as camouflage or protective coloration while in the stream.
Flushed from their incubator trays, the hatched alevins become fry (3/6/14)
Fry are flushed from their hatching trays into a pipe leading to the rearing pond where they will be hand fed for about 60 days before being released into the fresh waters of Whatcom Creek.
Pipe from hatchery to rearing pond (3/6/14)
About 600,000 Chinook salmon fry were placed in this rearing pond on the day that I observed this process , (3/6/14)
Once in the holding ponds they will be fed by the students for about 6 weeks before being released into the creek. Once in the creek and the fry begin feeding on their own and are called parr. The parr continue to mature in the stream and estuary for several months to a year or more. The time varies by species.
Before being released into the wild the fry will have their dorsal adipose fin clipped as a marker indicating that they have been hatchery raised. The absence of the adipose fin distinguishes them from wild/native salmon. If a caught fish has an adipose fin, it must be returned to the water. It is best if the wild fish is not taken out of the water but released before netting. This release policy is the basis for the prohibition against barbed hooks for salmon fishers. Pulling out a barbed hook injures the fish and increases its chances of becoming infected and dying. This mass marking by removal of the adipose fin from Chinook and Coho salmon is done on 100s of millions of fry released into streams each year by the WSDFW.
Note adipose fin in front of tail. If clipped, it is a hatchery fish.
As the parr continue to mature in the freshwater stream and estuary, they begin the smolting process in which their physiology changes as it adapts to the salty environment of the estuary and the ocean. Once smolting is completed and they are fully adapted to salt water, they are called smolts and are ready to head to sea where they will feed, grow, mature, and roam for two to four or more years before returning to their home waters. In the case of the Chinook fry shown here, they will return to Whatcom Creek as full grown Chinook/King Salmon. I hope I am able to greet them on their return in 2018 or so. Those salmon that survive the many predators along the way, including commercial and sport fishers, will return to the stream where they smolted and either swim up the fish ladder shown below or move up Whatcom Creek to spawn on their own.
Marine Heritage Park at Whatcom Creek, with hopeful fishers. Note the beginning of the fish ladder at the bottom left.
When heading to sea, each species tends to have its own migration path. Below is a depiction of the ocean migration ranges of Washington State salmon. As the figure illustrates, there are two main points of entry to the ocean: one through the Strait of Juan De Fuca, and two through the Columbia River which would include the northern Oregon Salmon as well. On leaving the State waters these salmon range to various parts of Alaska before returning to their home streams. (apologies for the glare of the photos)
The figure below is taken from the Hatchery and displays differences in survival rates for hatchery coho and those spawned in the wild. The ratio is ten to one in favor of the hatchery raised salmon in terms of numbers returning to spawn. There are numerous causes such as wild salmon eggs, alevins, and fry spending more time in the stream to be eaten by other fish and scavengers before they even head to sea.
Although huge efforts and expense are devoted to maintaing salmon hatcheries, they are not without their detractors as there is increasing evidence that hatchery fish might actually harm wild salmon. It is noted that as hatchery fish increase in numbers, wild salmon decline. In part this harm is thought to be due negative effects of intermingling of the two groups such that the greater numbers of hatchery fish out-compete the wild for food. Further, it is suggested that intermingling reduces the genetic diversity of the wild salmon and it might spread hatchery acquired diseased to wild fish.
There are clear data showing that wild salmon stocks are not flourishing and the EPA and various legal jurisdictions are not convinced that enough is being done to recover the native salmon stocks. Accordingly, numerous measures are being tested and taken to reduce intermingling of these two populations in hopes that the wild salmon will become stronger and more plentiful stock than is currently the case. The marking by cutting the adipose fin of hatchery fish is seen as an important step in this separation process by enforcing selective fishing and retaining only hatchery fish.
Although there is much more to be told of this ongoing struggle to maintain, preserve, and recover the wild Pacific Salmon fisheries, there are many heroic efforts starting at the grassroots level in those communities blessed with having salmon in their backyards. These local efforts are supported and coordinated by state, tribal, regional, federal, and international cooperatives.
Saving and recovering these marvelous jumping creatures is important for many reasons beyond that they are very tasty and full of Omega-3 fatty acids. They are an icon of the very nature and landscape of the Pacific Northwest itself.
When we protect wild salmon, we safeguard rivers, forests, communities and economies. Wild salmon occupy a unique ecological niche, supporting scores of other wildlife, from bears to eagles to wolves. All told, wild salmon are one of the most important species to North Pacific marine and freshwater ecosystems and to the communities and economies on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.
"Green Diary Rescue" is Back!
After a hiatus of over 1 1/2 years, Meteor Blades has revived his excellent series. As MB explained, this weekly diary is a "round-up with excerpts and links... of the hard work so many Kossacks put into bringing matters of environmental concern to the community... I'll be starting out with some commentary of my own on an issue related to the environment, a word I take in its broadest meaning."
"Green Diary Rescue" will be posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.