All are invited to help release the Coho salmon fry that have been raised at the SeaTac Community Center at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at Des Moines Creek Trail in SeaTac.

Since January, the city has been raising Coho salmon at the SeaTac Community Center, and on April 27 the salmon fry will be released into their new home, and YOU can help and watch.

“Please join us for the release event! You will learn about how you can make the habitat safer for salmon and release your very own salmon fry into Des Moines Creek.”

NOTE: Parking at the Des Moines Creek trailhead is limited. Instead, please park at the Angle Lake Park parking lot (19408 International Blvd), and organizers will provide courtesy shuttle rides to the trailhead starting at 9:30 a.m.

Background:

From the city’s website:

Since 2020, the City of SeaTac has raised salmon each year to be released into Des Moines Creek. The Coho Salmon eggs are picked up from the Soos Creek Hatchery at the beginning of the year and when they grow into “fry”, they are released into the Des Moines Creek in the Spring. The salmon spend about a year feeding and growing in the creek before migrating out to the Puget Sound and ocean. There, they continue to grow for about a year and a half. At the end of their life, the salmon will return to their “natal stream”, or the stream they were born in, to spawn. They will lay eggs and the cycle starts over again.

One of the factors impacting salmon health in our creeks is urban runoff. When it rains, water is washed into storm drains and enters nearby creeks and waterways mostly without any treatment. This water can carry pollutants that impact salmon. Over the last few decades as more and more roads, parking lots, and buildings are built, more stormwater runs off and into our streams.

Today, the pre-spawn mortality of salmon in Miller Creek, one of our local creeks, is 2 out of 3. This means that 2 out of 3 salmon that return to the creek are dying before they are able to reproduce and carry on the next generation of salmon.

“Join us for this family friendly event!”

WHEN: Saturday April 27, 2024 at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Des Moines Creek Trail is located at 2151 S. 200th Street, but please park at Angle Lake Park at 19408 International Blvd: