Sammamish kokanee recovery continues as King County, partners work to build fish runs

Hatchery program, habitat protection and restoration key to weak stock’s recovery

A candidate for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), kokanee salmon return to spawn in a few creeks around Lake Sammamish between November and January.

As they did in 2009, King County staff this year are collecting a small number of returning adult kokanee and taking the fish to two hatcheries where they are spawned and their eggs are fertilized, then placed in incubators until they hatch.

A unique partnership is shepherding the spawning fish and their offspring through the program. Citizens alert agency staff when they see returning fish. Staff from King County, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) collect fish, spawn them, and then grow their offspring at two hatcheries.

The cities of Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah and Bellevue are paying for water supplied by Darigold, and agency staff and citizen volunteers will then release the young fish in their home creeks next spring.

“During this time of extremely tight budgets, we have to work together even more closely and find ways to economize while we maintain our focus on our goals,” said David St. John, chair of the Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group.

“We are working hard to develop and implement a program that effectively draws on public and private support, and we are grateful for the support we have received. It’s really fundamental to our success,” St. John said.

While the long-term goal of the kokanee recovery effort is to restore habitat so that hatcheries are no longer needed to support the population, the boost in production provided by the hatchery program gives to the fish in the short-term is essential.

The time that fertilized eggs spend in WDFW’s Issaquah Hatchery and USFWS’ Quilcene National Fish Hatchery eliminates at least one lethal risk that threatens fish populations: Flood flows in the streams that can scour incubating egg nests or smother the eggs in silt, sand and rocks.

“Incubating fertilized eggs in a hatchery’s controlled environment greatly increases their chance of successful hatching,” said Doug Hatfield, WDFW regional hatchery operations manager. “The goal is to jump-start this very low population of fish and bring them back from the brink of extinction.”

One unique aspect of the hatchery program is using incubation systems whose water is drawn from the three main kokanee spawning streams.  Each tributary of Lake Sammamish has a unique scent, and through natural imprinting that occurs during incubation and hatching, kokanee will be able to identify their native water source and return to the tributary where they were hatched instead of the hatchery.

To mimic imprinting in a hatchery, the water is trucked from the streams, treated, then pumped into the incubators. If successful, this novel technique will provide the opportunity to boost the natural runs in any tributary of Lake Sammamish.

“Salmon show a strong attachment to the streams and water in which they hatch.  Our assumption is that if we use the water from the streams that their parents returned to, the next generation will seek out that same stream during their own spawning run,” said Jeff Chan of the USFWS. “It would be a big step forward if we get this approach to work.”

Historically, tens of thousands of kokanee could be found in the Lake Sammamish watershed. Recent spawning runs have averaged in the low hundreds, with spawning confined to just a few streams.

A successful near-term hatchery program coupled with long-term habitat protection and restoration projects will enable achievement of two ultimate goals for the population: That it sustains itself by spawning in the wild, and that it includes so many fish that Lake Sammamish again hosts an annual kokanee fishery.

The largest portion of funding for the kokanee hatchery program comes from the USFWS, with WDFW, King County and the cities of Sammamish, Issaquah, Bellevue and Redmond also contributing resources.

King County has updated its Sammamish kokanee webpage to include a new video that describes this cooperative recovery effort. Visit http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/salmon-and-trout/kokanee.aspx for more information.

Related information

Kokanee in King County, Washington

Sammamish Watershed

Salmon and trout topics

King County Water and Land Resources