I live close to Meadowdale Creek north of Edmonds and have noticed that very few silver and chum salmon returned to the creek this fall (only about 7 or 8 total it seems from the posted tally). This creek is an important cutthroat creek in the north sound and I'm sure that those spawned out carcasses provide important nutrients for the young cutts trying to make a living in that small creek. This weekend I was looking in my freezer and found a bag of silver salmon heads and tails that I kept from this summer's catch for crab bait. Instead of using them for crabbing, I'm going to toss them into different locations along Meadowdale creek the next time I hike down there. I'm sure other WFF members live in the general neighborhood and probably have a few filleted out salmon in the freezer that could be used to "fertilize" Meadowdale Creek. Please donate them to the creek next time you are in the area.
great idea are there any problems with doing this that one would need to think about prior to doing this? so we are not somehow introducing something into the creek that we should not be? if not I will gladly toss my "crab bait" into the creek.
From talking to the volunteer docents at Carkeek Park (Piper's Creek) the past couple of weeks, it's sounds like the runs are down there too.
great idea! being that i fish that beach 3 times a week ill bring some old coho eggs. the lack of salmon nutrients in our forests and streams is a fairly overlooked problem. its said that way back when a healthy stream could be smelled miles away now we have to be within 50 feet to even get a wiff
Hey Kelvin. I don't think it will be a problem to put a few salmon parts into the stream as long as the fish are leftovers of healthy salmon you caught yourself, preferably from the salt (not raiding the dumpster of a hatchery or something like that). The ranger or the boy scouts have already been spreading around cut-up salmon into Meadowdale Creek, but there are so few fish to go around (I walked the creek bed a couple of weeks ago).
This is cool to hear. Back in the '80s I took a salmonids class at Meadowdale Middle School. We raised smolts from eggs and released them in the creek. I don't think there were any fish returning back then. It is cool to think that these could be descendants. Thanks for taking care of them.
Added some frozen coho parts to the stream bed this afternoon, then picked up trash along the beach to start the year off right. A few small cuts jumping in the salt.
I agree this is a great idea! I also had the thought of dumping leftover caracasses of my catch in the local waters but was afraid too of contamination, but if you think of the waste from birds and other animals that do thier thing around the water an old salmon should be the last thing to worry about..
It is against WDFW policy to transfer fish from one area to another. WDFW would frown on this, potentially issue a citatation for it.
Honestly, just asking...does the above apply to dead fish? Sounds like that's the plan for carcass introduction.
Do you care to back up this claim with a specific regulation or a WDFW employee's policy statement? I'm doubtful. I'm talking about depositing healthy salmon carcass parts harvested directly from saltwater (not diseased hatchery brood stock leftovers). In my case the salmon were harvested from beaches in MA-9 less than 30 miles from Meadowdale Creek.
Good on ya Dime, how many fish bits is a guy supposed to bury in the garden? Some of you may dig on this link: http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/salmon-and-trout/salmon-watchers.aspx From there you can click on the annual reports on the left side bar, which should take you to reports and maps showing you a bunch of, pretty much depressing, information.
