For more detailed data on Summer Chum abundance please visit WDFW’s population status site, or the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office data site.
The challenges facing recovery of Hood Canal salmon are similar across all species. The survival rate and population decline in the 1970s was caused by: general habitat degradation, excessive fish harvest; and natural cycles in ocean production.
The Hood Canal Coordinating Council has drafted a list of pressures that impact salmon, these include:
Climate change is anticipated to be a significant threat in the future. Oceanic climate changes influence local seasonal weather patterns, potentially resulting in unfavorable stream flows during the winter egg incubation season. And research has found that our activities in the Puget Sound region add a measurable impact on local climate changes.
Net fisheries in Hood Canal, when combined with harvests in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, contribute to a lower number of summer-run chum salmon returning to the ocean.
Information has recently emerged that suggests the Hood Canal bridge is a barrier to out-migrating young salmon and steelhead, as well as an impediment to the circulation of oxygenated water throughout the canal. The HCCC has formed a steering committee to facilitate efforts to assess the scope and severity of the bridge’s impact and propose potential solutions.
Recent hatchery reforms have identified ways to limit impacts to wild salmonids and their genes, while contributing to sustainable fisheries.
Challenges to Summer Chum Survival in Hood Canal
See what HCCC is doing to recover summer chum on the Salmon Recovery Program page.
Find out what each of us can do to help recover our Hood Canal salmon.