Visitors to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks will be able to see the smolt passage flumes on the spillway again. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reinstalling the four flumes in spillway gates 4 and 5 this week to help juvenile salmon and steelhead move through the project quickly and safely.
Here is the info they sent today: The flumes are a safe, water-efficient way for the fish to get through the Locks and into Puget Sound. The flumes have significantly reduced the harm and eased passage for juvenile salmon through the Locks to Puget Sound.
On the end of the slides are electronic PIT? passive integrated transponder? tag readers that can count fish that have been tagged to assist in understanding how fish pass through the Locks. The PIT-tag system in the slides provides information about survival and migration timing for juvenile salmon.
Studies in the 1990s showed that young salmon passing through the Locks from Lake Washington to Puget Sound had a difficult journey. Salmon were pulled into the filling culverts for the large locks, where some are injured or killed. Other salmon had a difficult time getting over the spillway near the fish ladder.
Fish passage at the Locks is key to salmon survival in the Lake Washington watershed, with every salmon and steelhead in Lake Washington going in and out through this route. Because of its importance, local, state and federal agencies, local governments and the Muckleshoot Tribe joined together to improve fish passage at the Locks.
You can keep up with activities at the Locks by following them on Facebook and Twitter.