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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
September 10, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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September 10, 2020
 
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Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020 At left, Ryan Gomez, , a summer intern , studying at Green River Community ' College displays . a chum caught Friday . morning at the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement , Group’s fish trap , , on the .Union River ' on state 300. g ' picturesd .' ' with Clayton David, a salmon and i steelhead biologist. Herald by Gordon Weeks ' Countingsummerchum on Union River; By Gordon Weeks! gordon@masoncounty. com For the 20th straight year, volun- teers and research interns are catching and counting summer chum entering the Union River in Belfair to spawn. The count is being conducted around the clock from Aug. 15 to Oct. 15. More than 1,000 people each year visit the Hood Canal Salmon Enhance- ment Group’s steel trap on the river on state Route 300. The summer chum are “the first blast of fertilizer,'nutrients,” said Clay- ton David, a salmon and steelhead bi- ologist for the Hood Canal Salmon En- hancement Group. “They make the trees grow bigger, the bears grow bigger, us grow bigger.” David said he is often asked why the ill 1" {k L. LS. Cedar Company ,I . Top Quality ’3 Westernolée'bcllfiigsr Lumber , Subscribe to we deliver Slnlloaflaasmwouutyiloumal 1-800-572-3327 ' NORTH -MASON . HAMB'ER BELFAIR LICENSING lVISITOR CENTER JOIN US! 7.28.20 --i§,.//:-i\»s‘s.\§ Arman Atrium/A .iWEMi‘lWflfimmlell% . Page A-26 - Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020 H Serving the communities of Belfair, Allyn, Grapeview, Tahuya, Mason Lake, South Shore and Victor group focuses on the chum when other salmon taste better. “If you want coho or Chinook, you want chum, because they feed the coho and the Chinook and the bugs and the birds and the bears,” he said. Last year, 1,887 summer chum were counted on the Union River, compared with 3,268 in 2018 and 5,810 in 2017. As of Tuesday morning, 720 summer chum have been counted, similar to last year’s pace, David said. “They are the beginning of the food chain,” said longtime volunteer Lynn Fisher of Port Orchard. “They come up, they take nothing from the river, they spawn, they decompose The insects and bears and other animals feed on the carcasses, so everything is well-fed because of the chum.” In 1999, summer chum salmon in brain. 60-426-441 2 Feed your Classifieds 227 W. Cota St. 0 Shelton, 98584 Visit Union! BELFAIR ERALD Hood Canal and the Strait of Juan de Fuca were listed as threatened under the US. Endangered Species Act. The next year, the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group began working with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to supplement the Union River summer chum run as part of the Sum- mer Chum Salmon Conservation Ini— tiative, prepared by Fish and Wildlife and the Point No Point Treaty Tribes. By 2003, the Union River no longer needed to be supplemented with sum- mer chum. From 2004 to 2015, chum from the river were placed in the Ta- huya River, where summer chum have ' been classified as “recently extinct.” Most of the chum salmon weigh less than 10 pounds, but some can get as large as 15 pounds, David said. The peak is the first week of September, he Community . The Union Visitor Information Center is open! Stop by Hunter Farms and say hello to Kerry in the little red house. Grab a scoop of ice cream and check out the animals, and don ’t forget to grab some delicious corn on the cob before you go. 1 Friday, Saturday Sunday 12 pm - pm 1921 State Route 106, Union Visit North Mason Chamber, Belfair Licensin, and Visitor Center in Belfalr & Union 360.275.4267 Frank Merrill Lic #JESFIl'ZZBDO a said. ' “After the peak, you’ll see the car~ casses coming down,” he said. ' Steelhead will enter the Union River in January and February. Fisher has volunteered to count fish at the site since 2003. ‘ “It’s a great time for my daughter and I to sit and kibbitz,” she said. “We just enjoy the water. The water is re- laxing.” Volunteers and interns wear face masks and distance themselves due to the pandemic, but they bond sitting outside a trailer at the site. “It’s brought people together,” Da- vid said; ”We get our minds off the vi- rus. We get our minds on helping the environment.” To volunteer, call 360-275-3575 or go‘to www.pnwsa1moncenter.org. , JESFIELD ll Construction, Inc. Serving the North Mason area since Specializing in seawall Reconstruction and home repairs 27 5-6684 Bellair WA