PUYALLUP (July 6, 2004) – The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is discovering how long it takes a chinook salmon to travel from Mt. Rainier to Commencement Bay. The residence timing study will give the tribe clues about how chinook might be harmed by the Puyallup River’s polluted waters.
“We don’t know a lot about how long these salmon are staying in polluted areas,” said Char Naylor, water quality manager for the tribe. “We think chinook probably reside; there for awhile, but we just don’t know.” Water quality in the lower Puyallup River is impaired by several sewage plants and stormwater runoff from hundreds of miles of paved surface in the watershed.
A few months ago, the tribe marked almost 2,000 chinook and released them in the upper reaches of the Puyallup River, near the border of Mt. Rainier National Park. As the fish make their way downstream the tribe hopes to catch them in a series of beach seines in the lower river.
The tribe is also marking chinook from other parts of the river that show up in the seines, and seeing if they show up in later samples. “This will give us an idea what chinook from other parts of the watershed are doing,” said Russ Ladley, resource protection manager for the Puyallup Tribe. “If any of these salmon stay anywhere for awhile, we know that pollution is likely hurting them more than if they just cruised through.”
The tribe is especially interested in yearling chinook, which spend a longer period of their life in freshwater. “The condition of freshwater habitat – from the availability of food and habitat to pollution – plays a large role in how successful these salmon are,” said Naylor. Puyallup River chinook are also listed as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act.
In addition to finding out how pollution affects salmon, the tribe is also collecting some basic, but important, habitat data. “We already have a pretty good understanding of the overall salmon population in the river. We’re trying to find out where they spend their time,” said Ladley. “We’re finding out what habitat the chinook are using. With that information, we can better protect them and their habitat.”
The lower Puyallup River, in addition to being the most polluted section of the river, has little habitat available to juvenile salmon. “Young salmon usually live in side channels, logjams, and anywhere there is food and cover from predators,” said Ladley. “But, because of diking along the lower river, that kind of habitat is rare. That’s why it is important to find where young salmon are and protect that habitat.”
“Restoring healthy populations of chinook is our highest priority,” said Joe Anderson, the tribe’s fisheries manager. “Salmon need clean, cool water to succeed, and chinook are obviously affected living in the Puyallup. The more we know about how young salmon move around in the lower Puyallup, the better we can protect them.”
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For more information, contact: Char Naylor, water quality manager, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, (253) 573-7851.Russ Ladley, resource protection manager, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, (253) 845-9225. Emmett O’Connell, South Sound information officer, NWIFC, (360) 438-1181, ext. 392. [email protected].
Photos available: Photos of Puyallup tribal staff seining river, sorting juvenile salmon available, high quality, jpg format. Contact Emmett O’Connell at above number for more information.