Just in from Fauntleroy Creek steward Judy Pickens:
(Photo courtesy Nathan Franck)
On Oct. 21, science students from Our Lady of Guadalupe School sampled Fauntleroy Creek for aquatic insects to understand how much food is available to salmon fry and how clean the water is. The insects in the lower creek will have another year to grow because the salmon watch closed today with no fish. That means the lower creek will have no “home hatch” of hungry fry this winter. Very few coho made it back to Puget Sound this fall from the Pacific.
Volunteers have been keeping watch for three weeks, since just after this year’s drumming/singing/welcoming gathering. The spawner turnout has varied wildly in the 20-plus years since restoration work made Fauntleroy a salmon creek again. Last year, 19 were counted; the year before, none; the year before that – 2012 – set a record with 274. West Seattle’s other salmon creek, Longfellow, has no formal count, but we’ve had several reports of sightings.
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