City-raised salmon to be released soon

Published 1:30 am Friday, April 10, 2026

A fish of Jamestown S’Klallam legend swims in the waters of Oak Harbor.

Tens of thousands of Coho salmon raised at the marina are nearly ready to be released into the wild next month. Bright and early Tuesday morning, Harbormaster Alyce Henry and volunteer Tracy Loescher oversaw the first of three weekly feedings, ongoing since the city received the salmon in January.

Silver scales thrashed beneath the harbor’s surface as the salmon gobbled pellets containing fish meal, protein and pulverized bird feather.

“They haven’t eaten since Saturday, so they’re a little bit hungry,” Loeshcer said.

Feedings are unique opportunity for community members to learn about salmon and their role in local tribe’s mythology. Gideon Cauffman, the city’s archaeologist, is a member of the Jamestown Sklallam Tribe in Sequim. Tuesday, Cauffman told the story of how Coho salmon gained the hooked nose characteristic of their spawning phase.

As legend has it, a male Coho salmon developed the hook when he helped his egg-carrying female partner find her home river. To keep from drifting away one night as they hunkered down in the riverbed, the female latched onto the male’s tail, and the male held onto a branch. When the female awoke the next morning, she noticed the male’s nose had taken on an unfamiliar curve.

Cauffman explained that the story is a lesson in teamwork and creativity. Unfortunately, Oak Harbor’s salmon cannot embark on an adventure like that until their release.

Right now, Henry explained, the salmon are about four to five inches long; once they mature, they could be anywhere from 22 to 30 inches long and weigh around 10 pounds, she added. Coho are just one of several species of Pacific salmon, identifiable during their ocean phase — according to the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife — by their silver color, white gum line, dark tongue and spattering of spots.

Since resurrecting its salmon rearing program, the city has received 30,000 salmon at the marina annually for the last five years. Loescher explained that budget constraints depleting funding for the program and brought it to a halt.

Previously, the marina reared salmon from 1982 to 2012, the city’s website details.

Volunteers rebuilt the marina’s salmon rearing pens, and it took Oak Harbor two years to convince Fish and Wildlife to once again send the city salmon, Loescher explained. Periodic permitting renewals are necessary to continue receiving salmon from a hatchery in Marblemount.

Loescher explained that the salmon may travel throughout the Puget Sound and even into the Pacific Ocean once they are released. Some will be eaten by seals and orcas, some will be caught by local fishermen. Henry said the city’s optimistic estimate is that 10% of salmon reared at the marina will return, but said that number is likely closer to 3-5% in actuality.

Loescher described the marina’s salmon rearing efforts as a “recovery enhancement program” meant to replenish the salmon population for animals affected in the past by starvation, like orcas, among other reasons.

Everyone is invited to the salmon release at 10:30 a.m. on May 9 at the marina’s D dock.