Forecast for spring chinook up from last year, but still low

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Forecasts for this year’s salmon runs show a doubling of spring chinook in the Nooksack River.

It gives some hope even though the species remains threatened across the Puget Sound region.

Fisheries managers say the projected runs for 2021 show 7,540 spring chinook returning to the north fork of the Nooksack River. That’s almost double the 3,949 fish that returned in 2020.

Officials say that’s a decent increase from last year but over 20 years, Puget Sound chinook continue to decline. They’re listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and are the primary food of the Salish Sea’s endangered orcas, called southern resident killer whales.

Cox Media Group