SEQUIM — Low water levels in the Dungeness River caused concern for farmers earlier this year.
Now it’s time to be worried about the fish.
People can start fishing for hatchery coho salmon today, but anglers need to be alert so that they don’t trample freshly spawned eggs from chinook and pink salmon, said Scott Chitwood, natural resources director for the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
“The idea here is not to preach to the sports fishermen,” he said.
“The idea is to pay attention to their surroundings.”
River levels still low
The Dungeness River recorded a water level of 81 cubic feet per second Friday afternoon, which is significantly lower than the median stream flows recorded over 74 years of monitoring, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey.
This means fish spawn in a narrower channel and the places they bury their eggs — called “redds” — are more concentrated.
The lower levels also make it more likely that fishermen could tread on the redds as they work the banks and cross the river.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has survey teams that look for new redds on a weekly basis, and they mark the ones they find.
The locations are marked with plastic flagging, usually attached to a tree or branch in line with the redd’s location in the water.