11-05-2022 Salmon Survey Update – Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project

REDD ALERT

A park visitor today asked “are the salmon spawning here?”. The answer to that question: YES. Salmon are spawning in all parts of Piper’s Creek and they’ve started heading up Venema Creek as well. This picture may appear to just be a bunch of rocks and silt in the creek but this is actually a salmon “redd” or nest. The redd’s “pot” is a depression dug out by a female salmon in order to cover up her eggs. If you ever see a female salmon flopping on its side they are likely either digging a pot or testing if the gravel is suitable. The tail spill is an elevated area where the dug up material and eggs end up.

Yearly Totals

Note: Yearly total is the survey date where (day’s live + dead up to date) is max
Salmon	Chum	Coho	Based on survey
211	187	23	2022-11-05

It was a busy survey day today with over 150 live salmon and plenty of park visitors. Here are our numbers from today.

Survey Totals

Note: Total live salmon includes Sea-Run Cutthroat and Unknowns – entries where surveyors were unable to determine the species. Remnants are included in dead counts.
Survey Date	Total Live Salmon	Total Dead Salmon	Live Chum	Dead Chum	Live Coho	Dead Coho	Redds
2022-10-26	3	9	2	0	1	9	1
2022-11-01	53	14	48	6	0	8	7
2022-11-05	172	16	170	11	2	4	3

Seems to be another strong run this year. Numbers have already surpassed 2019 and 2020.

Coho are once again having little spawning success here. We’ve seen a number of Coho females perishing before their eggs have been released into their body cavity which indicates premature death.

A huge thank you to all salmon survey volunteers for gathering this data!