Treaty tribes in western Washington are having a bountiful Fraser River sockeye fishery this season, with at least three times the number of fish returning as expected. More than 30 million sockeye are estimated to return to the Fraser River in British Columbia this year – the highest run size recorded since 1913.

View photos of the fishery in the San Juan Islands on NWIFC’s Flickr…

About 170 wild turkeys were released into a meadow on the Tulalip Tribes reservation in August with the hope they will sustain a harvestable population.

“Tribal hunters don’t have the same access to nutritious protein that they once had,” said Ray Fryberg Sr., fish and wildlife director for the Tulalip Tribes. “Populations of deer and elk have declined and they’re running out of decent habitat.”

A…

The Squaxin Island Tribe is spreading oyster shells on a handful of intertidal beaches in a hunt for the offspring of a tiny, rare, native oyster. This fall, tribal researchers will come back to see if any young Olympia oysters have attached themselves to the shells.

Like other shellfish, Olympia oysters are broadcast spawners. Young oysters float on the tide until they settle…

OLYMPIC COAST-The lethal levels of a biotoxin recorded in Olympic coast California mussels earlier this summer highlighted an emerging trend. Shellfish harvest closures due to the risks of paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), historically low on the coast, may become more frequent because of a change in microscopic plants in the ocean.

As a participant in the Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom (ORHAB) partnership, Quinault Indian Nation…

FIFE – Coho salmon are already using the 17 newly restored acres of the Puyallup tribe’s Sha Dadx wetland project. The tribe reconnected the old oxbow lake to the lower Puyallup River two years ago through a a cooperative, interagency effort.

This summer the tribe set up a two-way fyke net to count how many fish are coming and going. “We found a lot of…

SEDRO-WOOLLEY – The Upper Skagit Tribe has ramped up its shellfish program by hiring a new biologist and holding test fisheries on spot prawns.

Test fisheries improve harvest management by providing information about population size.

“Expanding our program will help us learn more about shellfish such as shrimp, so we can protect our resources now and for future generations,” said Scott Schuyler, the tribe’s natural resources…

The Suquamish Tribe is working with federal and county agencies to restore a significant part of Chico Creek by removing a fish-blocking culvert at its mouth. The project is one more step in the tribe’s massive restoration effort within the Chico watershed.

The mouth of the creek is known to the Suquamish as the “Place of Chum Salmon.” It is one the largest native salmon-producing creeks in Puget…

Port Gamble S’Klallam and Suquamish tribal students recently learned how easy it is to grow their own shellfish, just like a garden.

Viviane Barry, a tribal shellfish biologist, showed students from the Suquamish-based tribal high school how Pacific oysters are easily seeded.

“This type of hands-on stuff is relevant to what is going on in their tribes,” said teacher Bob Kirk. “These students often have clam and…

SHELTON – The Squaxin Island Tribe is building two miniature models of Oakland Bay to understand persistent pollution in a vital Puget Sound shellfish growing area.

The tribe is trying to learn more about harmful bacteria from failing septic systems and livestock manure that may become trapped on top of tideland sediments in upper Oakland Bay. “We think that instead of dying off like they usually…

While the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has been working diligently to protect salmon and their habitat in the Elwha River watershed, there’s another aspect of the pre-dam removal that is just as important: controlling invasive plants.

“These plants quickly spread, preventing native plants from thriving,” said Mike McHenry, the tribe’s habitat manager. “It’s bad for the existing river habitat and if it’s not taken care of,…