Re: “Inside the hassle to move sockeye salmon previous Lake Washington” [Nov. 30, Local News]:
Though the current historical past of the Cedar River sockeye included extra of the true story of this launched species, there was one main omission. No matter whether or not adults are transported round Ballard Locks and Lake Washington, migrating fry and smolts nonetheless die in giant numbers. Official estimates recommend that as much as 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 Channel, and in the event that they’re fortunate sufficient to make it that far, they get chewed up by the ocean bark-encrusted locks once they attempt to go away.
With warming waters, elevated flooding, and so on., it’s unlikely that this launched run will ever be giant sufficient once more for anybody to fish for them. A greater use of the thousands and thousands of {dollars} spent every year could be to assist the native Chinook and coho runs, which have recovered properly even because the sockeye runs collapse. Some may argue that decreased competitors for restricted spawning grounds from a whole bunch of hundreds of grownup sockeye may very well contribute to the restoration of native Chinook and coho.
Ralph Naess, Seattle