Saving Salmon

By April Zepeda Published: Oct 25, 2003 at 4:56 PM PDT Last Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 1:12 AM PDT
Saving Salmon
SNOHOMISH COUNTY - To the untrained eye, it looks like no more than a roadside ditch.

But it's much more.

This particular Marysville ditch is habitat to endangered coho salmon.

Now there's a problem. The salmon fry could be in jeopardy if they stay here.

"It was basically a ditch and it didn't provide the spawning habitat that they need so desperately," said ecologist Tom Hardy.

So the Adopt a Stream Foundation sprung into action. With the help of about 100 volunteers, the group decided to move the small salmon to a new home.

An electrical current shocks the fish just long enough for capture.Others are lured in by traps. Once the fish are captured they are moved down stream.

Their old home will be closed off and filled in. A new channel has already been excavated and planted.

When the salmon return to spawn in two years the new channel will be waiting, and Saturday's hard work will pay off.