Al Latham reports:
The NOSC spawning survey team witnessed a spectacle this year! After several years of seeing no coho in the upper reach of Chimacum Cr (Lee Miller’s old property), on a single day they counted more than 90! Total sightings for the season was probably over 200. The last few years have had dismal coho returns in Chimacum Cr, and generally throughout the region. Must have been some good ocean conditions for them plus adequate streamflows. Perhaps the Pacific decadal cycle has flipped as it’s wont to do! A tribal biologist told me years ago that due to that cycle for 10 years or so coho returns are dismal here, great in Alaska. Then the pacific decadal cycle kicks in -I n Alaska they wonder what went wrong, and here all the restoration folks are hero’s! Whatever – just glad to see good numbers for a change.
Liz Anderson from Jefferson County Health Dept. reports:
Port Townsend, WA. Recent clam samples from Discovery Bay tested negative for the biotoxin that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), and Washington Department of Health has opened Discovery Bay for recreational harvesting of all shellfish species. Jefferson County Public Health has removed warning signs at public access points in Discovery Bay.
In June, 2022, Discovery Bay closed for all species due to the toxin that causes diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Later that month, the PSP toxin level also climbed above the safe limit. Even after toxin levels started to decline in other mollusk species, butter and varnish clams remained closed, until today. Elsewhere in Jefferson County, butter and varnish clams remain closed due to biotoxin in:
- Kilisut Harbor (including Fort Flagler)
- Mystery Bay
- Oak Bay
- Mats Mats Bay
- Port Ludlow
To find out which areas in Washington are safe to harvest shellfish, please check the Shellfish Safety map at www.doh.wa.gov/ShellfishSafety.htm or call the Biotoxin Hotline at 1-800-562-5632. For the latest information on regulations and seasons, visit the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife website at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing or call the Shellfish Rule Change Hotline at 1-866-880-5431.
See the full press release on our website here: Discovery Bay Shellfish Biotoxin Warning Removed
The Narhwal reports:
The Northwest Treaty Tribes report on Dungeness work by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe:
Restoration projects increase salmon returns
Filed under: Around the Salish Sea |
Apparently this season coho made it back to Gibbs Lake for the first time in a number of years too!