Chinook salmon tagging a major undertaking

“For salmon, it’s always, unfortunately, a death by a thousand cuts sort of thing,” says Dustin Snyder with the Spruce City Wildlife Association. “Rising water temperature is an issue. In previous years, there’s been some overharvesting issues and that sort of thing, water conditions, in the marine environment and in the freshwater environment. And then, of course, a few years ago, we had the big bar landslide, which really impeded how many fish could return.”

And this is a very involved process.

“We take the fish and we clip off the adipose fin,” explains Snyder. “We snip it off with tiny little scissors, and then to tag it, we actually take the fish and put it into a machine. Kind of put a little helmet on its head. And that machine puts a microscopic pin into the fish’s snout, and that pin has a little number on it. That number will identify where that fish, was released from and what year. So this is giving us an idea of if the fish is picked up anywhere in any fisheries or that sort of thing, it’s going to give us a really good idea of their migration route.”

The Association is in for the long haul. These Chinook have a five-year life cycle.

“So if they are being harvested in any fisheries, we’ll start to get an idea in the next 3 to 4 years. As for returning, they have a five year life cycle. So again, we’re probably not going to get any information for the next 4 or 5 years. This is a long term change and a long term commitment that Spruce City has jumped on board.”

It’s a venture Corinna Joseph is very proud of.

“It is really, really. I love the fish and I love helping Mother Nature in her process because, she’s having a hard time right now.”

So in a couple of weeks, 95,000 of these Chinook salmon fry will head out to see and the waiting game on their fate will begin.

by Cheryl Jahn

Chinook salmon tagging a major undertaking

What's Trending