Good news: Another strong run for summer chum

For the second consecutive year, summer chum returned by the thousands to their birthplace in the Union River in Belfair.

From Aug. 15 to Oct. 15 each year, the Belfair-based Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group at the Pacific Northwest Salmon Center conducts a count of summer chum salmon at a fish trap on the Union River on state Route 300. Around the clock, volunteers and research interns collect data on summer chum, and obtain adult summer chum for artificial spawning and stock supplementation.

Last year, 6,479 summer chum were counted, the most for a year without hatchery supplementation being a factor. On Monday, the count was 5,340, with five days remaining.

"It gives lots of credence that juvenile chum have benefitted a ton" from the program, said Clayton David, salmon and steelhead biologist for the group.

In 1999, summer chum salmon in Hood Canal and the Strait of Juan de Fuca were listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, David said.

The next year, the Salmon Center began working with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to supplement the Union River summer chum run as part of the Summer Chum Salmon Conservation Initiative, prepared by the department and the Point No Point Treaty Tribes.

Between 1975 and 2012, an average of 1,000 summer chum were counted returning to the Union River. The number peaked at 11,916 in 2002 due to hatchery supplementation. That year, supplementation ended as the Union River summer chum run was healthy enough to become a donor stock to reintroduce summer chum to the Tahuya River, where summer chum had been classified as "recently extinct."

Breaching nearby dikes in 2013 created tidal channels, with brought the shoreline back to its original spot on Roessel Road, David said.

Summer chum are considered the first run of "fertilizer" for the Hood Canal in late summer and early fall that help support the ecosystem.

"Summer chum are not valued for their taste, like chinook or coho," said Joshua O'Hara, a research intern from Sharon, Connecticut, in his second year with the project. "But they blast nutrients for trees, other habitat."

Volunteers Tracy and Kevin Stoops of Tahuya have counted fish and received visitors at the trap for five or six years. As volunteers, they had removed bulkheads and planted native species on the shores of Lake Washington.

The Stoops oversee shifts from 8 a.m. to noon. They drink coffee, wander the nearby trails and talk to passing motorists who pull in out of curiosity.

"It's kind of a community service piece and a data piece," Tracy said.

The peak run of chum in the Union River begins in mid-September. During one night shift, 129 chum were counted.

"That's when you might get 10, 20 in the trap," Kevin said.

Last month, the group received three grants totaling $375,615 from the Washington State Salmon Recovery Board to help ensure the survival of salmon in the state. Statewide, almost $76 million in grants were awarded.

The Salmon Center received $112,336 to monitor chum salmon on the Union River. A $205,800 grant will allow the group to remove two levies in the Union River estuary. With a $57,479 grant, the salmon center will study the feasibility of restoring spawning on Lilliwaup Creek.