Posted Sunday, January 12, 2025 6:12 pm
By Joe Scordino
Edmonds Stream Team
Maija Jinneman observing a female chum salmon protecting her eggs laid in the gravel. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino) 
Meadowdale High students – Maija Jinneman, Aspen Spivey, Maya LaBelle, Emma Roberts. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino) 
Meadowdale Beach Park visitors responded to this sign with photos and videos. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino) 
Edge of this bridge was modified to provide a salmon passage channel after the underside of the bridge was blocked by sediment, (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino) 
Avery Bergan helps salmon passage in her backyard by clearing debris that washed into creek during rainstorm. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino) 
High scchool students collecting data on stream conditions and salmon .occurrence. (Photo courtesy Joe Scordino) 
Maya LaBelle examining a chum salmon that died before it could lay its eggs in the creek. This “pre-spawn mortality’ may have been caused by toxic tire dust (6PPDq) that enters the creek through storm drains on roads.
There’s good news coming from the Edmonds Stream Team after completion of its annual adult salmon surveys last month in Edmonds’ Shell Creek and Lund’s Gulch Creek in Meadowdale Beach Park.
The team documented the highest number of chum salmon spawners in November 2024 since surveys began 2017 in Shell Creek.
A one-day count of adult chum salmon in Shell Creek on Nov. 10 exceeded the sum of the total counts over the past three years.
Student volunteers from Edmonds-Woodway and Meadowdale high schools, as well as adult volunteers, began surveys in late September and started seeing large numbers of chum salmon entering both Shell Creek and Lund’s Gulch Creek in early November.
By late November, most of the salmon had spawned and expired (salmon die shortly after spawning).
A minimum estimate based just on the dead salmon recovered would be over 300 salmon returned to Shell Creek and 200 to Lund’s Gulch Creek in 2024.
Final estimates will be available after data analysis is completed this month.
The surveys not only documented the number and species (coho or chum salmon) observed, but included examination of dead salmon to determine species, sex, size, and spawning status and the condition of the habitat where they might lay their eggs (i.e., clean gravel vs. sediment-impacted stream beds).
Some of the returning adult salmon appeared to be affected by toxic pollutants that enter the streams from storm drains and died in the creek before they could spawn. Others are killed by predators (racoons, river otters, eagles, herons) before they can spawn.
The Stream Team found “pre-spawn mortalities” in both Shell and Lund’s Gulch creeks, some of which had no predator marks, suggesting they may have been killed by toxic pollutants in the creeks.
Several live coho salmon were observed to have the characteristic “erratic” behavior that leads to death from the effects of a compound in tire dust (6PPDq) found in stormwater entering the creeks during rain events.
The Edmonds salmon surveys have focused on Shell and Lund’s Gulch creeks because they are the only streams in Edmonds that have adult salmon returning to spawn. Perrinville Creek had salmon until 2021, when the City of Edmonds blocked the creek’s connection to Puget Sound and diverted the creek outflow into a pipe to prevent residential flooding during rain events.
Willow and Shellabarger creeks had salmon until the 1960s when the marina was built and the Edmonds Marsh outlet was diverted into a 1,600-foot pipe exiting under Marina Beach to Puget Sound.
Although Shell Creek has significant streambed sediment problems from upstream erosion in Yost Park and a manmade waterfall that blocks upstream access, the lower portion of the creek still has some suitable spawning habitat much to the credit of Edmonds property owners who care about salmon and their use of the creek.
The Edmonds Stream Team not only counted salmon in the fall, but worked with property owners during the salmon migration to resolve salmon passage issues as they arose in both Shell and Lund’s Gulch creeks.
At the restored estuary created by the new railroad bridge in Meadowdale Beach Park, the Stream Team found that a summer’s growth of a freshwater plant called watercress was blocking salmon passage into the creek channel and worked with Snohomish County and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to create a path through the vegetation for salmon migration.
In Shell Creek, the Stream Team worked with a property owner to obtain an emergency hydraulics permit from WDFW to quickly resolve a unique situation where excess sediment in Shell Creek built up under a bridge and blocked salmon passage.
Once a channel was cut on the edge of the bridge and pavers were removed from the top of the concrete bridge, salmon began moving upstream to spawn.
The Edmonds Stream Team thanks everyone who helped make this year’s surveys a success, including Shell Creek residents who allowed Stream Team volunteers access to their backyards to conduct surveys; park rangers in Meadowdale Beach Park; the park visitors who texted their photos and videos; and donations from Edmonds rotary clubs, Olympic Fly Fishers, and Puget Sound Anglers that allowed us to purchase chest waders, boots, and field supplies needed for the all-volunteer Edmonds Stream Team to function.
Final reports with additional photos and videos of the salmon will be posted online at tinyurl.com/4yuc3s2c in late January.
Joe Scordino is a retired NOAA fish biologist and Edmonds Stream Team project leader.
Link to Edmonds Beacon article:
https://www.edmondsbeacon.com/stories/record-number-of-salmon-in-shell-creek,109001