Forecast for spring chinook up from last year, but still low in Washington state
Fisheries managers say the projected runs for 2021 show 7,540 spring chinook returning to the north fork of the Nooksack River. Author: Associated Press Updated: 11:48 AM PST March 8, 2021
BELLINGHAM, Wash. Forecasts for this year’s salmon runs show a doubling of spring chinook in the Nooksack River.
It gives some hope even though the species remains threatened across the Puget Sound region.
Fisheries managers say the projected runs for 2021 show 7,540 spring chinook returning to the north fork of the Nooksack River. That s almost double the 3,949 fish that returned in 2020.
SEATTLE - For more than a decade, Brad Hanson and other researchers have tailed the Pacific Northwest's endangered killer whales in a hard-sided inflata.
Chinook salmon are key to Northwest orcas all year, study says
The researchers said the whales sometimes eat other species, including halibut, lingcod and steelhead, but they depend most on Chinook. Author: GENE JOHNSON Associated Press Published: 7:22 AM PST March 4, 2021 Updated: 7:22 AM PST March 4, 2021
SEATTLE For more than a decade, Brad Hanson and other researchers have tailed the Pacific Northwest s endangered killer whales in a hard-sided inflatable boat, leaning over the edge with a standard pool skimmer to collect clues to their diet: bits of orca poop floating on the water, or fish scales sparkling just below the surface.
Their work established years ago that the whales depend heavily on depleted runs of Chinook, the largest and fattiest of Pacific salmon species, when they forage in the summer in the inland waters between Washington state and British Columbia.
Study: Chinook salmon are key to Northwest orcas all year
Gene Johnson
SEATTLE For more than a decade, Brad Hanson and other researchers have tailed the Pacific Northwest s endangered killer whales in a hard-sided inflatable boat, leaning over the edge with a standard pool skimmer to collect clues to their diet: bits of orca poop floating on the water, or fish scales sparkling just below the surface.
Their work established years ago that the whales depend heavily on depleted runs of Chinook, the largest and fattiest of Pacific salmon species, when they forage in the summer in the inland waters between Washington state and British Columbia.
Study: Specific salmon key diet to Northwest s endangered orcas king5.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from king5.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.