November 08, 2006
Byrne Creek Spawner Patrol
I went on my first spawner patrol this autumn on Byrne Creek this morning, as I had been away at university for three weeks. Yumi and I found two dead coho spawners and a very dead chum. We also saw four live chum and a live coho.
Unfortunately, the two coho were both unspawned females. They were in excellent shape and had not begun to turn color as spawners usually do. Their egg sacs were still firm, and we wondered why they had died prematurely. We hope this doesn't become a recurring pattern with female coho, as it was last year on Byrne Creek.
Here's Yumi hauling one of the coho out of the spawning channel.
A close-up of the egg sacs.
Yumi found this one by smell! Not much left of it...
Streamkeepers measure all dead salmon spawners we find and check if they have spawned. We then cut the carcasses in half so we don't double count, and return them to the creek where they provide essential nutrients.
Posted by Paul at November 8, 2006 06:45 PM