We spotted Chum in Piper’s Creek in the last two days. There were three in the culvert under the railroad tracks today, 10/29 and one more about 1350 feet up stream. We also found three dead, partly eaten chum yesterday, 10/28.
These sightings are in addition to the two coho spotted on 10/15 and the sea-run cutthroat trout spotted at the confluence of Piper’s and Venema creeks on 10/23. Hopefully we will see the numbers increase with the rains expected in the next week or so.
Photo is of one of the chum found on 10/28. Humans and bears are not the only ones that enjoy eating salmon. The coyotes, otters and raccoons in Carkeek Park also enjoy eating salmon.
We went to Piper’s Creek and saw a few dead ones. But they looked gutted to filet, I’m wondering if these were planted by a hatchery? Thanks!
Yes, the chum salmon you saw in Piper’s Creek come from our imprint pond on Venema Creek. We typically raise about 30,000 eggs and 70,000 fry donated to us by the Suquamish Tribe. The carcasses you saw were chum that had died and our volunteers had opened to determine if they had spawned or not. You can read about our imprint pond as well as our salmon survey and other salmon related programs we participate in at https://www.carkeekwatershed.org/salmon-programs/.