The icy wind cut across the small Navy pier in western Washington state, causing the watercraft tied up to bob heavily as cold rain fell over thousands of fish sliding out of the truck Feb. 22.

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division, Keyport continued a decades-long tradition of helping both the Suquamish Tribe and the state of Washington ensure the population of coho salmon remains steady and viable by assisting in the transfer of over 220,000 young coho from farther south in Puget Sound to a holding pen near Agate Pass. The young fish will live in the holding pen for three months, protected from birds and other predators. This gives them a chance to grow bigger and also acclimate to the area’s waters so they will know where to return for their spawning cycle.

Jerry Taylor, the NUWC Division, Keyport range scheduler, and Dr. Dawn Grebner, a range biologist and bioacoustician at NUWC Divison, Keyport, took turns standing on the pier Feb. 21 and 22, acting as escort for the truck bringing the small fry from the hatchery. Watching as the truck’s driver hooked up the transfer tube in the bitingly wet wind on Friday, Grebner said the pier facilities on base provide the perfect place to move the young salmon from the truck to the boat waiting to take them to the holding pen near Agate Pass.

“They use gravity to transfer the fish from the truck to the boat,” Grebner said. “That’s how we ended up helping out.”

Grebner said there are hatcheries for salmon all over Puget Sound, but the coho being transferred over the past 48 hours are coming from the Gorst Creek Hatchery in Gorst, Washington. The fish are moved from the hatchery tanks to a truck for transportation to the NUWC Division, Keyport pier.

“They have a limited time in the truck,” Grebner said. The truck is carrying upwards of 30,000 fish at a time, meaning the fish are in a tight environment with limited oxygen.  “There is a two-to-three hour limit on how long they can be in the truck, so once they’re moving they have to get transferred quickly.”

The NUWC Division, Keyport pier is high enough that the fish can be transferred using gravity. By simply letting the fish slide through a water-filled tube from the truck to the waiting tank on the boat, they are stressed very little and face almost zero risk of physical injury, both important considerations in the effort to supplement the wild population in order to ensure the species’ future.

Coho are a smaller species of salmon common to the waters of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea.

“Not all salmon go to the ocean,” Grebner said, her orange coat and hood glistening in the falling rain. “Since coho are smaller salmonids, local or returning fish prefer the smaller streams, like those near Agate Pass, to spawn. This is in contrast to larger fish — steelhead, chinook — which prefer bigger streams and rivers to spawn.”

Development along the Puget Sounds’ shores over the past 100 years has restricted, even eliminated, many of the smaller streams that smaller species like coho use for spawning. This project is a joint effort by the Suquamish Tribe and the State of Washington’s Department of Fish & Wildlife to help the coho population remain healthy by raising fish in hatcheries and then releasing them into the wild in their native waters.  Once the transfer boat has taken the young coho from Keyport to the Agate Pass holding pen, they will be transferred into the pen using a gravity slide as well.

Grebner enjoys working on this annual effort. NUWC Division, Keyport doesn’t play a major role in the operation; the base only provides the pier. However, Grebner says even small efforts like this demonstrates the Navy’s ability to partner with local authorities to assist good environmental stewardship.

“It’s a good way for the Navy to give back to the local community,” Grebner said as the fish boat cast off and began chugging away from the pier. “It’s a nice outreach and a nice relationship to have with the Suquamish Tribe and the state.”