October 2005
Q. If they’re endangered, why can I still buy salmon in the grocery store?

A. Much of the salmon you see at the supermarket is Atlantic salmon raised on farms in the U.S., Canada, and Chile. Most wild salmon for sale comes from Alaska, where runs are relatively healthy and habitat is functioning properly.

If Puget Sound runs of chinook and other salmon go extinct, it’s true that there would still be salmon in other parts of the world. (However, this could change if currently healthy habitats and salmon populations are damaged in the future. Their recovery is important because it indicates how well our community is safeguarding our waters and our natural environment. Because salmon use the entire ecosystem—from headwaters to open ocean and everything in between—their health, or lack thereof, is a sign of the health of the general environment.

August 2005
Q. How do salmon find their natal stream when returning to spawn?

A. Although adult salmon may travel thousands of miles from their natal streams during their life, they will use all their strength to return there to spawn. Some studies indicate that the distinctive smell of the natal stream is imprinted as fry emerge from eggs, and that adults follow their noses home. Other studies indicate that the brain of the salmon is sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field, and that this may be a factor in the homing instinct.

April 2005
Q. What is the difference between Atlantic salmon and Pacific salmon?

A. The Pacific salmon are of the genus Oncorhynchus and are represented by seven different salmon species. The chinook, chum, coho, pink, and sockeye are species of Pacific salmon that occur on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. The other two species of Pacific salmon, masu and amago, are only found near Asia. Although not salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout are also categorized under the Oncorhynchus genus based on similar characteristics with Pacific salmon. The Atlantic salmon is actually only one species of the Salmo genus. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean from Connecticut in the USA, north through Canada, in Greenland and Iceland, throughout Scandinavia and Eastern Russia, and south all the way to Portugal. While all salmon return to their natal stream to spawn, the Atlantic salmon are capable of surviving after spawning, unlike Pacific salmon. Steelhead and cutthroat trout also have the capabilities of surviving after spawning. The Pacific salmon die shortly after spawning.

January 2005
Q. What do salmon eat?

A. What a salmon eats depends on age, species, and location. When salmon are young and still in freshwater they eat tiny zooplankton and adult invertebrates. However, this varies among species. For instance, young coho salmon typically feed during the day and prefer aquatic insects at the surface of a stream, such as, mayflies, caddis flies, and stoneflies. The young chinook salmon prefers plankton off the river floor, as well as, terrestrial insects and small crustaceans. Another food source for a young salmon is found on overhanging riparian plants. Larvae and insects feeding on this vegetation often fall into the stream adding to a salmon’s diet.
As a salmon matures and eventually leaves the freshwater for the ocean, their diet may change. While chum and sockeye salmon prefer to continue eating zooplankton and occasionally other small adult fish, other species begin to eat larger fish and aquatic insects. This includes shrimp, surf smelt, sand lance, crab, herring, amphipods, and krill. When a salmon returns to freshwater to spawn, feeding efforts virtually stop to conserve energy for the journey upstream, producing eggs, and digging a nest (redd).

September 2004
Q. Why do spawing fish look like they are falling apart?

A. Once salmon return to fresh water, they are single-mindedly focused on spawning. They stop eating, and their immune systems shut down to conserve energy. In addition, as they swim upstream, they must often struggle against strong currents, rocks, and other obstacles. The wear and tear increases as they thrash their tails to move gravel and create the redds, or nests, in which the eggs will be laid and covered with more gravel. This produces the typical “broom tail” seen on salmon that are finished spawning. Consequently, spawners tend to look somewhat “beaten up” and are susceptible to fungus and other diseases.

May 2004
Q. Why do salmon hold before spawning?

A. As salmon migrate their way upstream to spawn, they will often pause and rest in pools, along streambanks, or even in coastal waters before swimming on to their spawning grounds. This pause is called holding, and helps salmon to conserve as much energy as possible as they wait for the right river conditions--flow levels, water temperature--for spawning. Often, a freshet (a surge of water in the stream from rainfall) will signal to the holding salmon that it’s time to continue.

December 2003
Q. Why do salmon change their shape and colors before they spawn?

A. In the ocean, a salmon’s bluish-green coloring provides camouflage from predators. Once they re-enter freshwater, their focus is on attracting a mate and spawning. Scientists believe that the changes in color and physiology (such as bigger teeth, humps, and so on) help the salmon to distinguish the species and gender of other fish, making it easier to find an appropriate partner.

For some theories about the color patterns of chum, visit this page hosted by WDFW.

October 2003
Q. Can I fish for chinook, even though it's listed as an endangered species?

A. In certain parts of the Nooksack River and its forks, and at certain times of the year, licensed fishers may catch up to two chinook, but the fish must be released.

For information on specific dates and locations, visit the WDFW page on fishing regulations or call the WDFW Fishing Hotline at (360) 902-2500.