Measuring and Adipose Clip quality checking a sample of Net Pen coho smolt

Over the last couple of weeks Squaxin Island Natural Resources have released approximately 1.8 million coho smolt from the Net Pen facility located in Peale Passage.      “Our hope is these coho live a healthy life through out their journey   through the Puget Sound into the ocean and return back as 8 lbs adults for the 2011 Washington Sport and Tribal Fisheries,” said Will Henderson Enhancement Manager for Squaxin NR.

Joe Peters measures a sample of coho

Squaxin Island Tribe and Washington Fish and Wildlife co-manage the Net Pen facility in Peale Passage.   Juvenile coho arrive to the net pens in late January at 30 fish to pound.   Staff feed these coho an EWOS diet feed for four months and then the fish are released.  Coho are released at an average of 13 fish to the pound.    The coho smolt released May 2010 will begin returning to South Puget Sound in September 2011.

Forecast for returning adult Net Pen Coho for 2010 is  33,600.

Squaxin Net Pen Inventory Video

Big thanks goes out to Emmett O’Connell, South Sound Information Officer for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for recording, producing and editing this video fo the Squaxin Island Tribe.

Thousands of Juvenile Coho in the Squaxin Net Pens

Above is just a snap shot of the 1.5 million coho that will be released in June 2009.  On average only 3 % of these released coho will return as adults in Fall of 2010.  That is approximately 45,000 adult coho available for harvest by Sport and Commercial fisheries in South Puget Sound.

Pictures of Coho Transfer to Net Pens on Flickr

Short Video of Coho Transfer on You Tube

The Kisutch transferring coho to the Net Pens.

This week the Squaxin Island Tribe Natural Resources (SINR) and Washington State Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) started hauling the first batch of juvenile coho to the South Sound Net Pens (SSNP) located in Peale Passage.   SSNP is a co-managed facility by the SINR and WDFW that has released an average of 1.5 million coho smolt yearly to benefit  Sport and commercial fisheries through out the Puget Sound.

Offloading coho into a Net Pen

SINR staff will be monitoring and feeding these juvenile for the next four months;releasing them in June.   These coho are at around 31 fish per pound when they arrive and will be released at about 15 fish to the pound.   After release these coho will make the journey to the ocean feed for a year and return to the deep South Puget Sound as adult coho in the Fall of 2010.

Coho in the Net Pens. Photo courtesy of Rana Brown-Shellfish

The fish arriving this week are reared at Skookumchuck Hatchery. Early next week we will be transferring fish from Wallace.     Stay tuned for more photos!

Tag being inserted into an adult salmon.

These fish were captured by natural resources staff in the lower ends of the inlets in areas that are generally closed to Tribal fisheries during the coho managment season. The purpose of this study is to track when these fish move out of the inlets and where they ultimately end up.

More information on mangament for coho can be found at:

Fishing regulations and maps

Several weeks after tagging the Department began recieving calls from several grocery stores in St. Louis Missouri reporting Squaxin tags on salmon they were about to fillet. This was followed by a phone call from a fish processing plant in Missouri that had found numerous Squaxin tags in shipments of fish they were buying. According to the processing plant manager fish bought from South Puget Sound feed three quarters of the state of Missouri.

“It’s a beautiful craft,” said resource technician Dave George Krise of the Squaxin Island Tribe as the Travelift approached to hoist the tribe’s new barge from the shipyard to the boat haven.

With the boat at the dock, still suspended over the water, Jay Brevik, president of Lee Shore Boats Inc., stood at her bow with a bottle of champagne.

“I got the privilege of breaking the champagne bottle,” said Brevik, since Krise had already ceremonially blessed it with burnt sage in the Native American tradition.

Both traditions welcomed Lee Shore Boats’ first aluminum barge.

Brevik says that this project is a significant departure. Lee Shore Boats specializes in conventional mono-hulled boats. “We’re very proud of the quality. Everyone is just marveling that we can build a boat like this from aluminum.”

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