Tag: Nisqually

Pink Salmon Returning in Larger Numbers to Nisqually River

NISQUALLY (October 11, 2005) – The Nisqually Tribe’s salmon surveyors are seeing more pink salmon in one day than they used to see in the entire year. “During one stretch we counted more than 200 pink salmon,” said Craig Smith, tribal harvest management biologist. “There were so many pinks, we weren’t able to count them all. There haven’t been this many pinks seen in 20 years.”

“While we don’t know all the factors that led to the big run this year, we do know that one reason had to be good spawning habitat,” said Jeanette Dorner, salmon recovery for the tribe. Pink salmon typically return to the Nisqually in such small numbers that little is known about the run.

Steelhead Being Counted On The Nisqually

YELM (May 17, 2005) – Every winter for the past ten years, the Nisqually River steelhead run has gotten smaller. “No one seems to have a good answer on why steelhead haven’t been coming back in strong numbers,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the Nisqually Indian Tribe.

To piece together an answer, the tribe and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife are doubling their monitoring efforts by conducting steelhead redd surveys by the air and by boat. “We need to get a clearer picture of steelhead populations in the Nisqually River,” said Craig Smith, harvest management biologist for the Nisqually Tribe. Redds – nests dug by steelhead in river gravel – are easily identifiable from the air and by boat because the fish rub gravel clean as they dig.