If you are wondering why I am so pissed about "empty" waters being delisted, check this out.
REDMOND -- Kokanee salmon, long in decline, are spawning in the Sammamish River in three locations within city limits.
``There aren't that many runs of Kokanee left in the Sammamish watershed,'' said Peter Holte, the city's habitat stewardship coordinator.
Kokanee are rare, and one of the three local runs was declared functionally extinct in a report issued last year by King County, which called for further study of the surviving populations in order to better coordinate conservation efforts.
Kokanee are a rare variant of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) that took a different evolutionary turn sometime in the past: Instead of migrating to the ocean after they are born, they stop and mature in freshwater lakes before heading back upstream to spawn and die.
``They're genetically coded to do this,'' Holte said. ``They're sockeye salmon, but because they display this behavior they're kokanee.''
The name ``kokanee'' comes from a native word meaning ``red fish,'' Holte said, and it describes the orangish color the fish take on during spawning season.
Because of their diet, kokanee tend to be smaller than their seafaring cousins. The kokanee currently in the river seem to top out at about 14 inches, Holte said.
A severe decline
Historically, kokanee could be found throughout the entire Lake Washington/Sammamish watershed. The populations have declined severely in this century, up to the point that the Issaquah Creek run was declared extinct last year.
Hans Berge, an aquatic ecologist with King County's Water and Land Resources Division, said that the presence of kokanee in significant numbers in the Sammamish River would be good news from a broader ecological standpoint.
``It means that survival in the lake is improving,'' Berge said.
``It's a good sign to see kokanee around. It's kind of an indicator species of freshwater habitats, too,'' he said.
Recent return
The kokanee that are currently spawning have come back to the river only in recent years, Berge said, but they have been shown to be a native, rather than a transplanted species.
Native runs of kokanee are rare, found mostly in the Lake Washington/Sammamish watershed, the Lake Whatcom watershed and in some locations on the Olympic Peninsula.
Kokanee in Eastern Washington tend to be introduced, and in fact many runs in the West were introduced from Washington state, Berge said.
According to a county Department of Natural Resources and Parks report in October 2003, which Berge co-wrote, kokanee spawn in the larger tributaries of the Sammamish River from September to November, and in tributaries to Lake Sammamish from late November to early January. The late-run kokanee are typically larger in size, up to 17 inches long.
The extinct run spawned in August and September in Issaquah Creek. In 2001 and 2002, only a handful of those early-run Kokanee were seen.
Berge intends to get out to see the kokanee himself today to gauge whether they are indeed kokanee and how large the population is.
``It's a good start to the year,'' he said.
Chris Winters can be reached at chris.winters@kingcountyjournal.com or at 425-453-4232.
KOKANEE SALMON SPAWN IN THE SAMMAMISH
Kokanee salmon have been seen spawning in three locations in Redmond this year: under the Northeast 85th Street bridge, a little bit farther north in the habitat restoration area and up in the stretch of the river between the Redmond 74 housing development and the Willows Run golf course.
Redmond Habitat Stewardship Coordinator Peter Holte will be at the bridge location from noon to 12:30 p.m. today to answer questions about the fish.
