by Pete Heltzel
With the 2022 in-water work window nearly upon us, it is a good time to look back at the efforts during the 2021 fish removal season. The Watershed Company worked with numerous contractors and local municipalities, including the Seattle Department of Transportation, to safely capture and relocate fish from work zones where stream habitat restoration and removing fish passage barriers was to occur. Typically, three people would comprise each fish removal team and we had 10 different Watershed employees take part in fish removal activities this past summer.
The Watershed Company supplied the fish removal team for fourteen in-water projects in 2021. Our team traveled to several different areas of the state with project locales including Silverdale, Chehalis, Everett, Seattle, and Issaquah. Typical projects, such as a culvert replacement, require only one day of fish removal. However, Watershed was involved with several multiday projects that required three to five days of fish removal, due to the complexity of the project and length of stream where fish were to be captured and relocated.
Installation of 65 foot long fish exclusion fence at the outlet of Lake Stevens (Lake Stevens, WA).
Working closely and effectively with the contractor is a strength of the Watershed team. At each site, our team would consult with the contractor to determine the optimal location to install fish exclusion fencing upstream and downstream of the work zone. Our team expertly constructed various types of fish exclusion fencing, including installing a challenging 65-foot-long upstream fence in Lake Stevens at the inlet to Mill Creek. Block netting was occasionally used in lieu of fencing, but typically exclusion fencing was used, which included hauling and pounding fence posts and securing metal mesh fencing with metal wire.
We had several unique fish removal efforts during the 2021 season, including:
Retrieving seine through bubble curtain (left) on Newaukum River (southeast of Chehalis, WA).
Seven-foot-tall fish exclusion fence on Lower Wapato Creek (Tacoma, WA).
Fish removal for a road stabilization project on the Newaukum River – A bubble curtain, installed by the contractor on the riverbed, was placed in a semi-circle parallel to the shoreline and acted as a “fish barrier” around the work zone. We used beach seining techniques from a boat, herding and capturing fish from behind the bubble curtain.
A large habitat restoration project for the Port of Tacoma on Lower Wapato Creek – This project required seven separate fish removal efforts over a span of four months. Six fish exclusion fences were installed at various times coinciding with contractor project logistics with the challenge that Lower Wapato Creek is tidally influenced. Several installed fences measured up to seven feet high to compensate for incoming tides.
Occasionally, we are called back for re-fishing efforts, such as re-visiting Blueberry Creek in December for the City of Kenmore due to a clogged culvert.
Safe Capture and Handling of Fish
Juvenile coho salmon captured and relocated on Blueberry Creek (Kenmore, WA).
Every creek contains their own fish assemblage according to size, habitat complexity, flow, barriers, and connectivity to other fish bearing streams. We worked on an array of streams, all with different characteristics and therefore captured and relocated many different types of fish species in 2021. Typical fish species encountered included cutthroat trout, riffle sculpin, Western brook lamprey, Pacific lamprey, juvenile coho salmon, three-spined stickleback.
Our team takes pride in how we capture, handle, and release fish and other fauna. The team can deploy several techniques to capture fish which have been perfected over the years. Seining, dip netting, and electrofishing are the three standard techniques we use. Our trained team knows how to spot when fish are being injured from electrofishing and can quickly determine the most appropriate settings to safely capture and minimize injury. Buckets filled with fresh ambient creek water are fitted with aerators to ensure fish receive an influx of oxygen to aid in quick recovery. Care is taken to ensure fish are properly recovered prior to release, not held too long, and put in shaded areas during hot summer days.
A total of 18,398 fish were captured across all projects and sites in 2021. Our team’s dedication to safe capture and careful handling of fish resulted in an astoundingly low mortality rate of 0.6%.
Electrofishing with volunteers on Chico Creek during dewatering of individual pools (near Silverdale, WA).
Sorting fish from seining on Chico Creek (near Silverdale, WA).
As we go through the yearly practice of joining contractor teams, preparing equipment, and training up staff, we envision the beautiful creeks we will get to visit and unique people we will interact with. The satisfying feeling returns as we imagine the thousands of fish we will safely capture and relocate that will get to hide or rest in a pool or LWD in a newly created habitat or swim past a replaced fish barrier to spawn or feed in habitats previously inaccessible.
