News – FISH

The Chinook count is up to 4,827! And, the recent rain has brought the first of them into Issaquah Creek. And, we have jumpers! Few Chinook are being reported at the Shilshole Public Ramp, but the Coho count is picking up! Pretty soon the official count will start tracking the Coho return – presently they have counted about 500 Coho at this time. That forecast is for over 22,000 fish, so we should have lots of Coho action at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery.

Can you spot whether these fish are hatchery-reared or naturally spawned? 

Our favorite salmonids are on their way back! The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) forecast (including the Issaquah Hatchery runs) expects “similar [to last year] Chinook fisheries” and “. . . a strong run of Coho salmon.” All our returning fish pass through the Chittenden (Ballard) Locks where they are counted as they make their way into the Lake Washington basin. Many of the Chinook and Coho are on their way to Issaquah Creek – most of the Sockeye are on their way to the Cedar River. The current count is pictured below:

With these sparse numbers it is unlikely that fishing for the Chinook would be open in the Sammamish River or Lake Sammamish. The official word is on the WDFW site current regulations and Special Rules, which can change from day to day.

The sport catch out of Westport is still excellent. Now most of those fish are headed for the Columbia and other watersheds, but we can hope, can’t we, that some of these fish will continue up the coast to head to Issaquah.

The coho count has not started yet – the forecast is for over 22,000 fish, so that is very heartening!

Our favorite salmonids are on their way back! The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) forecast (including the Issaquah Hatchery runs) expects “similar [to last year] Chinook fisheries” and “… a strong run of Coho salmon.” All our returning fish pass through the Chittenden (Ballard) Locks where they are counted as they make their way into the Lake Washington basin. Many of the Chinook and Coho are on their way to Issaquah Creek – most of the Sockeye are on their way to the Cedar River.

The count as of July 28th is pictured below. This chart, as well as a chart for coho, is updated every couple of days. We’ve linked this chart to the page on the WDFW website where you can see the latest count.

As you can see, only 489 Chinook have been counted so far – our fish are still hanging off in the salt water somewhere. A few Chinook have been reported at the Shilshole Public Ramp, which is right at the entrance to the Locks.

Fishing for our Chinook is occasionally open in the Sammamish River or Lake Sammamish – please check the WDFW site for the current regulations and Special Rules, which can change from day to day.

Additional salmon viewing opportunities around the Puget Sound can be found at the Salmon Seeson website – check it frequently for emerging opportunities!

If there are other fishy topics you would like to see in this blog, please request them in a Comment.

Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (FISH) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to retaining and improving the historic Issaquah Salmon Hatchery and promoting watershed stewardship through education. This will be FISH’s 13th year offering summer day camps that teach about salmon, habitat and watershed stewardship. All day camps take place at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. This year there are two weeks of camp for 6-8 year olds, one week for 9-11 year olds and two 3-day camps for preschoolers at the hatchery. Camp for 6-11 year olds is called “Salmon Science Camp” and the preschool camp is known as “Little Fry Camp”. In addition, we will be providing programming for YMCA and other groups.

The Summer Naturalist supports FISH’s summer education programs and Education Coordinator (EC). The intern will work with camp staff and volunteers to deliver high quality, hands-on day camps centered on salmon and the ecology and watersheds of the Northwest. Camps have a focus on science, but include arts, games and other elements. Camp takes place indoors and outdoors at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery and surrounding area.

Applications are currently being accepted. Applications close on May 15, 2014.

Fore more information please contact the FISH Education Coordinator at education education@issaquahfish.org.

We’re all geared up for Summer Camp. It may be cold and rainy outside now, but summer fun is right around the corner. Summer camp with FISH has proved to be a very popular summer program with campers returning year after year. One parent said, “My kids loved camp! They came home each day with a story and very happy. We will be back next year!” Celina Steiger, our Education Coordinator is the Camp Director, and along with summer staff and young camp helpers, has designed a program that helps children discover the wonders of our amazing salmon and the waters they live in. Days are filled with active games, songs, stories and exploration of salmon habitat.

Issaquah Salmon Hatchery’s Little Fry campers will investigate “Where do salmon live? And who lives near the salmon?” Campers will also explore the salmon hatchery and Issaquah Creek, create an animal track to take home, become a salmon, act like a bug, and sing the songs of water. This camp will encourage the joy of discovery and cultivate a sense of wonder in the environment and in salmon. For ages 3 to 5, camp is June 30 through July 2, from 9:30 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon.

For youth ages 6 to 11 there is Salmon Science Camp where campers will have fun learning all about the salmon life cycle and watershed stewardship as they conduct a water quality and aquatic insect study of Issaquah Creek. Campers will perform experiments, go on a nature hike, make arts and crafts, play games, use microscopes, hear Native American legends and more! Our most popular camp, there are three sessions available for youth 6 to 9 years old: June 14-18 and July 21-25. The Salmon Science Camp for youth ages 9 to 11 is July 28-Aug 1.

To learn more about these camps and register online visit the camp page on this website.

As I watched our salmon return to Issaquah Creek right on schedule this fall, I was once again inspired by the beauty and uniqueness of these amazing fish. And I was just as inspired by the spirit of volunteerism I see among all of those who are just as amazed as I am at the miracle of the salmon life cycle.

Do you fish? Watch for salmon in streams? Enjoy outdoor photography? Visit our hatchery frequently? Eat salmon? For those of us who live here, life is constantly enriched by the presence of these amazing creatures.

We have the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery because we as a community choose to preserve it. We have salmon in our streams and lakes because we choose to protect our watershed. We choose to help others understand the miracle of the salmon’s return and the role they can play in perpetuating their survival for future generations. This mission is driven by people like you who hold our salmon dear. I hope you will join me in this effort by supporting the Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery.

Why support FISH? Here are a few of the ways we take the lead in conserving this precious resource.

• Advocate for the hatchery facility as a community asset by lobbying for the removal of the upper intake dam and new water intake that allows our salmon to imprint on Issaquah Creek.
•  Salmon lifecycle educational programs for youth including hatchery tours for nearly 10,000 school children, science fair salmon dissections, classroom presentations and Salmon In Schools for 150 classrooms in King County, a program that allows students to observe up close and personal the development of salmon from fertilized eggs to fry.
• A volunteer program that enables 85 people each year show their love of salmon by pitching in to help with spawning, egg picking, hatchery operations, and share their enthusiasm for salmon with the public.

Please show join me as a partner in this work by making a contribution today. Help us ensure that our hatchery and our salmon remain a proud legacy we can pass on to our kids and our grandchildren. Now is the time to invest in the future.

Best Fishes,
Jane Kuechle, Executive Director

Your donation can be made right here on this website via credit card by visiting our “Get Involved” page. You can also mail your contribution to FISH, 125 West Sunset Way, Issaquah, WA 98027. Thank you for your support.

A new, state of the art aquarium is planned for the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery. Visitors will see salmon developing from eggs to fingerlings, just as they do in Issaquah Creek. Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (FISH) is excited to announce a capital campaign to raise $20,000 for this project. The exhibit is scheduled to be open in time for the fall 2013 salmon season, to delight and inspire the thousands of visitors who come to the hatchery each year.

Each year over 10,000 school children tour the hatchery on classroom field trips. FISH has secured the services of a reputable aquarium design firm, Aquarium Concepts, to create and install a new exhibit that will vastly improve the educational quality of the aquarium and give visitors a much more realistic demonstration of how salmon grow and mature.

Larry Kangas, the artist who painted the depiction of salmon predators on the hatchery water tank, has been engaged to create a realistic backdrop to the tanks which will include depictions of native vegetation, logs and lighting to replicate the natural daylight cast as found in Issaquah Creek. Using chillers and a modern filtering system, the water in the tanks will be maintained at optimum conditions for young developing salmon.

We are indebted to Jordan Valente Construction for donating their services to reinforce the shelf on which the aquarium tanks will rest and Illuminate Contracting, LLC for donating their services to reroute and install the needed wiring.

We are asking for your help so we can complete this new exhibit. Our Board of Directors has committed $5,000 in seed money to get us started and we are grateful to the Kiwanis Club of Issaquah for being the first to step forward with a pledge of $2,000. We are asking other organizations and businesses in our community to help with this effort as well. But it will take all of us to make this vision a reality.

The return of salmon is Issaquah Creek is an annual miracle. Our hatchery is here to keep the salmon coming home. You can support this annual miracle by helping us build our new aquarium so future generations will preserve and protect out salmon and the waters they live in.

Click here to donate now!

My daughter loved the camp. She asked me if the camp ran all week, and when I told her it did, she asked if she could go on the weekend, too. She really liked the games and being outside in the creek. She has wanted to be a marine biologist since she could talk so she knows quite a bit about fish, and she loves Salmon Days, so she knows quite a bit about the salmon life cycle. She learned about watersheds and enjoyed that. She also loved feeding the trout. She wants to attend again next year. The crafts were really great. Overall I would give the camp a 10, and I will recommend it to friends. Thanks for a great week!

No organization could ask for a more glowing recommendation than this one. We work hard to make sure that our summer camps are fun and educational but it really makes us feel good when we hear it directly from parents. We know the kids are having fun and learning to appreciate our amazing salmon. The real test of quality comes from parents who hear directly from their children about what they are learning, the games and activities that occupied their day and their eager response to the program.

Whether your child is 3 and just learning about the natural world around them or 11 and thinking more globally about human impact on our environment, our summer camp program provides the opportunity to explore, be creative and think holistically. Playing outdoors in the summer sun is a time honored tradition of childhood. Why not expose your child to the wonders of our amazing salmon and the role they play in expanding our understanding of our watershed, at the same time?

CLICK HERE to sign up for Summer Camp!

We recently ran across an article by Michael Ungar, Ph.D., who is a family therapist, a researcher at Dalhousie University, and the author of “The WE Generation: Raising Socially Responsible Kids.”

Dr. Ungar says that summer camps are perfect places to help children optimize their psychosocial development and where they get the experiences they need to bolster their range of coping strategies. There are the simple challenges of learning to do new things, but there are also the more complex challenges of getting along with a new group of peers, learning how to ask for help from others, or taking manageable amount of risks without a parent following after you.

He goes on to point out seven things a camp should have to help children develop coping strategies:

1. New relationships, not just with peers, but with trusted adults other than their parents.
2. A powerful identity that makes the child feel confident in front of others
3. Help children feel in control of their lives.
4. Kids get what they need to develop physically.
5. Make sure that all children are treated fairly.
6. Camps offer kids a chance to feel like they belong.
7. Camps can offer children a better sense of their culture.

Summer Salmon Day Camps at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery are by design small groups of children. Activities focus on the salmon life cycle and taking care of the environment so that salmon can thrive. Because the group is small (eight to twelve children) we are able to design activities to be flexible and focus on the interests of the specific group of campers in any given week. There is more opportunity to meet the needs of each individual child. And a small group allows children to get to know everyone, forge new friendships, and provides opportunity for campers to test out their interests and strengths.

In addition to interacting with a group of children their own age, campers also interact with Celina Steiger, the FISH Education Coordinator who is also our Camp Director, and with our adult summer staff counselor and teenage camp helpers who also work with the children throughout the week. Children learn how salmon are important to our cultural heritage here in the Northwest and have the opportunity to talk about their own history and culture. And children are active outdoors as they explore the hatchery and Issaquah Creek, play games and act out the salmon lifecycle.

To learn more about our Salmon Summer Camps: CLICK HERE and you’ll be redirected to the page to sign up.

To read more of the article by Dr. Ungar, CLICK HERE to be redirected to his website.