Redfish Salmon

Fishing

Biologists were elated last week when they discovered thirteen nests made by mated pairs of endangered Snake River sockeye salmon in Redfish Lake near Stanley, Idaho.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game researchers had been tracking 15 salmon with sonic tags since they released 120 hatchery-raised sockeye in mid-September. In addition to the nests, they found that 50 of those fish had moved into shallow spawning areas around the lake.

The nests, which appear as light-colored patches on the gravel lake bottom, protect sockeye eggs from predators. Because an adult female sockeye lays approximately 2,000 eggs, biologists see the nests as a positive sign in their efforts to save the fish.

, DataTimes