Farms of the Sea

Hope Renewed for the Lake Sammammish Kokanee Salmon

Author: admin

As with many endangered marine animals, the Lake Sammamish Kokanee salmon has long been in applied for inclusion into the endangered species list. Finally, last July 12, 2011, the US Fish and Wildlife Service made a firm promise to decide its fate. It still isn’t approved for federal protection under the endangered species list but at least something is happening. Hopefully, it won’t take several months before a decision is made. The agency is required under law to come up with their decision before the end of the year, 2011. This means a definitive end to a long wait for environmentalists.

The Lake Sammamish Kokanee salmon is a rare variety of fish found only at Lake Sammamish. They usually come to the lake in August through creeks and streams to spawn. With the dam infrastructure and development that have been gone unabated over the years, these streams have all but dried up. This 2011, there have been no sighting of the salmon and many environmentalists fear its extinction will happen sooner than expected.

Again, it boils down to a legal and angry debate between the power suppliers and nature. The dams are good because they help produce power for the surrounding areas. However, it has caused side effects such as what we are seeing with the salmon. Wind power has been proposed to alleviate further aggravation of the endangered species.

One example of the legal battles environmentalists are facing is between Portland’s Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and salmon advocates. The people who want salmons to be protected are teaming up with wind energy companies to force BPA to restore operations with the wind energy companies and release water from the dams which are experiencing high levels anyway. The safe spill from the dams would allow the salmon enough water to safely swim to the lake while the wind energy companies can resume their business contracts with BPA.

This August, Bob Pfeifer who is a biologist with the Department of Wildlife plans to start walking along the different streams leading to Lake Sammamish to look for signs of the salmon. He says, “It’s probably going to be shocking – I’m not looking forward to it.”

Tags: Endangered species, Lake Sammamish, Lake Sammammish Kokanee Salmon

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