(Photos by Pete Draughon. Above, students and siblings from Westside Wonderspace preschool got to release coho fry last week with Dennis Hinton in the lower creek)

By Judy Pickens
Special to West Seattle Blog

Kindergarten students, parents, and staff from Sanislo Elementary had the honor of releasing the last of this spring’s Salmon in the Schools fry into upper Fauntleroy Creek.

Despite the pandemic’s many extra demands on teachers, seven West Seattle schools (half the usual number) managed to rear coho this year. In addition, two preschools released fry reared by volunteer Jack Lawless for the Fauntleroy Watershed Council to supplement what schools were able to produce.

Most teachers scheduled their releases in Fauntleroy Park by family groups. All told, 130 students, plus 190 adults and siblings, put 1,044 fish in the water.

(This Sanislo student added a bit of glamour to the last salmon release of the season on Fauntleroy Creek)

An additional 30 park users who happened by the release site on Saturday let the last of the supplemental fish go for their year in freshwater.

About the same time that fry were going into the creek, 49 smolts were heading out for their two years in saltwater. Between mid-March and late May, volunteers Dennis Hinton and Pete Draughon documented 15 smolts leaving from the upper creek and 34 from middle and lower reaches of the mile-long system. This number is about average for the past five years of this 19-year study.

Next up will be spawning season, starting in mid-October.