This presentation is given to the Snohomish County Beach Watcher Training Class every year. It covers salmon life cycle, cultural and social benefits of salmon, salmon habitat and stewardship.

1. Stillaguamish Tribe Department of Natural Resources

2. What We Will Cover
 Co-managing the Fisheries
 Natural history and cultural significance
 Life cycle – redds to estuary
 Fish identification with live hatchery fish
 Life cycle – to the sea and back
 Life history requirements
 Status of local stocks
 Challenges and solutions

3. The Stillaguamish Tribe

4. Salmon evolved about 40 million years ago
following the end of the Cretaceous Period.
(Fish had been around since 400 million years ago.)
Raven 1986

5. Over the next 20 million years, global cooling shifted
productivity from fresh water to the oceans, and increased
food availability.
Pacific salmon ( ) separated from Atlantic salmon ( )
20 million years ago. Speciation occurred with emergence of different
types of water systems: lakes, rivers, small streams, etc.

6. For example: the
Extinct by the Pleistocene 2Million Years ago
By Stanton Fink (left) and Ray Troll (right)

7. Why care about salmon?

8. Food

9. CEREMONY

10. Sense of Place

11. Jobs

12. Food for wildlife
Watershed nutrients
Quinn 2005
(ecosystem services)

13. How are salmon different from 99% of
other fish?

14. Anadromous & Semelparous
Migratory fish that live mostly
at sea and breed in fresh water.
And breed once in their
lifetime.

15. Alevin
Emergence
Fry
Adult The Salmon
lifecycle
Parr
Smolt

16. Average eggs laid 2000 – 4000, largely depending on size.
Eggs and alevin
need cold,
oxygenated water in
the gravel.
Time to hatching
depends on
temperature & oxygen.
In general,
.
At 5°C 87 – 120 days,
depending on species.
At 10°C, 60 – 80 days.
Quinn 2005

17. Alevins with yolk
sacs in the gravel,
this is a very
sensitive stage.
Alevins tend to
burrow through
spaces between
gravel and orient
themselves
upstream.

18. Emerging Chinook fry
(in the Stillaguamish River, this happens in
about four to five months – so Feb to
March)
Survival rates
Eggs to hatching: pink 11%, Coho 25%, Chinook 38%
Egg to migrant Chinook survival based on Stillaguamish smolt trap data
averages 10%.

19. From alevin to fry – now what?

20. Pinks and chum
tend to head
straight to the
estuary.
Chinook will rear
upriver if suitable
habitat is available.
In Alaska, more
Chinook are
‘stream-type’.
Chinook spend
more time in
estuaries than pink
or chum (this can
mean Puget Sound Quinn 2005
at large).

21. Coho tend to spend a
year in freshwater,
.
Trout may spend as
many as three years.
They feed on algae
and aquatic insects
found on stream
bottoms or in ponds. Quinn 2005
As they grow they will
eat small fish.
They need places of refuge & well
oxygenated water. They can be territorial.

22. Changes that Occur
Ion regulation, color, thyroid hormones, shape. Fish
become silvery and elongated
Chinook fry left and in the process of
smolting, right. (Quinn/Bell)

23. Coho fry
Smolting
(Quinn/Bell)

24. Smoltification: (teenage fish)
Triggered by internal rhythms, size, day
length, temperature.

25. Let’s look at some live fish!

27. Credit: Laurie Weitkamp

28. Back to the fish lifecycle..

29. Optimal Out-migrant Habitat
Eelgrass beds
Salt marsh
Pocket estuaries

30. Small pocket
estuaries form
behind small spits,
often with
freshwater inputs,
are good food
sources and
protection from
predators.

31. Our salmon travel to the
North Pacific Ocean.
(Salmon tagged at sea and recovered in N Am or Japan. Quinn 2005)
At sea, salmon tend to stay in near surface waters
and move toward surface at night (as does
zooplankton).

32. Life at Sea
Populations from other
rivers converge.
Gain 90% of their body
weight, eating fish, squid,
crustaceans.
Orient by using magneto-reception, N
ocean temperatures.

33. Life at Sea
Marine survival estimates: 5% or less
Overall survival is less than 1% - but given appropriate habitat
this may be enough to sustain a population.

34. Life at Sea
Salmon get caught and
we like to eat them!

35. The Return to the Estuary (pre-spawning)

36. Different species spawn in different places
Sockeye Chum Chinook
Pollard et al 97

37. Different species spawn in different places

38. Life History
Requirements

39. Cold, clear gravel bottomed streams
surrounded by woods
Temperatures need to be below 8° Celsius or
46°F, water 30 – 60 cm deep, flowing 30 – 100
cm/second.

40. Nests or Redds made of gravel and rock

41. Buffers: Essential Healthy Salmon Habitat
Benefits
 1. Water filtration &
transpiration
 2. Insect habitat
 3. Wood supply for
in-stream use
 4. Shelter
 5. Shade
 6. Slows current at
banks
Plus:
 7. Predator
deterrent Carbon sink/oxygen
Wildlife habitat (birds, bees, mammals)

43. Fish Food

44. Sockeye
rear in lakes
eating
zooplankton
Left to right:
Daphnia,
Diaptomus,
Cyclops
Quinn 2005

45. In the estuary Chinook eat
zooplankton and invertebrates, small
fish, larval crabs and as they grow eat
larger fish.
Crab Neomysis
top &
zoeae top, Corophium
amphipods
Crab
megalop
bottom
By Greg Jensen
Ctenophore

46. Threats facing salmon today and
efforts at recovery
 Habitat loss and degradation
 Over fishing
 Pollution
 Changing ocean conditions

47. Puget Sound Chinook were listed as threatened
under the endangered species act in 1999.
At least 34% of Puget Sound salmon stocks are
depressed, in critical condition, or already
extinct.
In CA, OR, ID, & WA, salmon are now extinct in 40% of the
rivers in which they historically spawned. 30 – 50% of
remaining stocks are in jeopardy.

48. Local Threatened Stock Status
Less than 7%
historic estimates
North Fork Chinook: 1060
South Fork 188
(Includes Skykomish and
Snoqualmie rivers)
Chinook (Sky and Sno)
Bull trout (NF Sky, SF Sky, Salmon Creek,
Troublesome Creek)

49. 1988-2012 Chinook Escapement

50. 1988-2012 Chum Escapement

51. 1988-2012 Coho Escapement

52. Local recovery efforts consist of groups focused
on habitat enhancement plus hatcheries.
• Stillaguamish Watershed Council
• Snohomish Salmon Forum
• Sound Salmon Solutions
• Local fish clubs and many more
• Stillaguamish Restoration hatchery
enhances spawning success and is not a
‘fish farm’

53. In the Stillaguamish River Chinook harvest is not
permitted for the public or the Stillaguamish
Tribe.
In 2009, the Tribe had their first ceremonial take
of Chinook in over 20 years.
They caught two.
Limited hatchery Chinook harvest is permitted in the Snohomish
Basin.
Following: photos of Stillaguamish Hatchery operation

54. ‘Broodstocking’

55. Capture fish returning to spawn

56. Deliver to the hatchery

57. Ripen

58. The Stillaguamish Tribe restoration
Spawning hatchery releases tens of thousands
of Chinook fry each year, and
educates several hundred students.

59. Issues related to salmon decline
How you can help!

60. Over-fishing and
Poaching
Report suspicion
or evidence of
poaching to WA
Dept of Fish &
wildlife.
877-933-9847

61. Report all lost
gear to WA Dept.
of Fish and
wildlife.
800-477-6224
Report all spills
to the local port
authority.
Derelict Fishing Gear
2.6 million pounds in Puget Sound kill millions of animals each
year

62. Water Quality
Temperature
Availability
Pollution

63. Contributors to Poor Water Quality
Channelized
waterways with
hardened, eroded,
and/or defoliated
banks.

64. Or no banks at all!
Large scale urbanization
with non-existent
estuaries or natural
streams.

65. Excess sediment can come from bank erosion,
landslides.

66. Sediment can bury gravels, reducing available
spawning habitat.

67. Sediment smothers eggs and clogs fish gills.

68. Practice good water quality behavior
Volunteer to help restore stream buffers
and instream conditions
Fence streams from livestock (good for our
water too!)
Report lost fishing gear
Restore salt marsh/estuary/nearshore
habitat
Restoration hatcheries

69. Restoring stream buffers

70. Working
together as a
community to
rebuild
buffers and
keep
pollutants out
of water.

71. Replacing wood in streams and rivers.
Creates pools and slows water down,
Creates hiding places,
and attracts edible insects.

72. Vegetated side channels are excellent for Chinook and
Coho juveniles, but low in number due to bank hardening
2006 North Fork Stillaguamish project reopened this side channel.

73. Fish Barriers
Prevent salmon from returning to their
spawning grounds, or force juveniles
downstream prematurely.

74. Repair Culverts and Barriers

75. Restore Salt Marsh Habitat
Originally 4448 acres, 15% remains. Since
1968, 863 acres accreted, but it lacks the
diversity of original habitat.

76. Challenges for shoreline and near shore
restoration
Balancing the interests of:
Agriculture
Residential
Other wildlife such as waterfowl

77. Restore or protect near shore and
beach habitat
Shoreline 39% modified:
dike 15%
concrete 6%
rock 6%
wood 11%
Other <1%

78. Stewardship, education, vote, let your leaders know
you care, participate in local committees.

79. QUESTIONS???

80. Thank-you!

81. Greek for hook-snout

82. Steelhead salmon and/or Rainbow Trout
The most diverse life history. Can spawn multiple times
(iteroparous), can reside entirely in freshwater or migrate to
sea. Spawn in spring rather than fall.

83. Cutthroat trout
Spring spawner, found on both sides of Rockies, can
be freshwater resident, iteroparous. Have adfluvial
(live in lakes, spawn in streams) and sea-run types.

84. Pink and sockeye females at sea
Female chum and female coho at sea

85. Chinook or king or
blackmouth salmon
The largest and least
common Pacific salmon.
Mature at 4 – 6 years.
Favored food of orcas.
2011 Forecast
Stillaguamish: 665
Snohomish: 589211
Charles Wood in Quinn 2005

86. Chum or dog salmon
Oncorhynchus keta
Third most abundant
species, mature at 3, 4,
or 5 years of age.
2011 Forecast
Stillaguamish :11,314
Snohomish: 9,572

87. Coho or silver or
blueback salmon
Oncorhynchus kisutch
Mature from 2- 4
years.
2011 Forecast
Stillaguamish: 66,600
Snohomish: 180,000

88. Sockeye or red salmon
Oncorhynchus nerka
Second most abundant
species, live mostly in
lakes when in freshwater.

89. Pink or humpy salmon
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
The smallest and most abundant
salmon. Mature at 2 years.
2011 Forecast
Stillaguamish: 657, 643
Snohomish: 1,332,388!!!
Get yer smokers ready!