Spawner Surveys 2005-06
By Kevik Rensink

The Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group (SFEG) has completed the 2005-06 spawner survey season.  This year SFEG staff and volunteers surveyed 13.4 miles of stream habitat at 26 restoration sites.  In all, 3,402 salmon returned to these sites and 1,257 redds (salmon nests) were observed.

The season totals show that every species of salmonid in every stream SFEG surveyed was greatly reduced from one year ago.  Although SFEG counted 2,687 pink salmon in Hansen, Jones, and Alder Creek this winter, two years ago in those same streams we counted 7,562.  The coho return looked good at times in the Sauk watershed, but at the end of the season the numbers didn’t come close to what has been observed in the past.

We have come to the conclusion that there is no silver lining in the spawning survey cloud of 2005-06.  Simply put:  “There were no darn fish.”  There is a lot of speculation as to why the Skagit and Samish watersheds had such a poor return, but we really don’t know for sure.  The lack of Chinook and pink salmon is easily attributed to the flood of 2003.  However, how do you explain the 82% drop in total redd counts combining all other salmonid species whose redds were created after and therefore not affected by the flood of 2003?

That is why our volunteers are so important.  Every spawning season is equally important.  Therefore, whether fish numbers are up or down, the data collected is still valuable.  We celebrate together when the streams are full of fish, and we realize the importance of this valuable resource when the streams are empty. 

I would like to thank everyone involved in making these spawning surveys possible this year.  Thank you Lucy Applegate for creating another great volunteer base which included volunteers Worth Allen, Kurt Buchanan, Joe George, Jim Johnson, David and Mary McDonald, Jenny Moser, and Mike Oster; landowners Tom Berry, Ken Goodpastor, David Gribble, Anthony Hamerski, Floyd Kennedy, George and Joleen Sloniker, and Mike Wood; SFEG Interns Danny Cain and Liz Leavens; Restoration Technicians Bob Keller and Dwayne Massey; Upper Skagit Tribe’s Doug Couvelier; Sauk-Suiattle Tribe’s Sue Madsen; and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Brett Barkdull and Doug Huddle.  We greatly appreciate all the hard work and effort that everyone puts into this very important part of salmon recovery.  Thanks, and we hope to see you all next year.

If you would like to assist with spawner surveys for the 2006-2007 season, please contact our office and we’ll notify you of training, held in early October.