Salmon Tours 2012

 WSU has taken on the Salmon Tour program. A few years ago, a group of educators, including me,  organized buses to take participants to Salmon viewing sites in the county. This was a successful program that lasted for about 10 years. For several different reasons, the program in its particular format was abandoned. This year WSU Beach Watcher volunteers acted as Salmon Docents and invited the public to view Salmon at several spots around the county. I participated as a Docent last Saturday at Fish Park in Poulsbo

We Salmon Docents were lucky that it was a cold, crisp but sunny day on Saturday! I joined two other docents on the viewing platform.  There was a fortuitous spot of sun there to warm us up. We had low attendance from fish and Salmon tour participants. It was high tide so it was hard to see fish returning upstream at the estuary. The lack of people could’ve been due to frigid temperatures in the 30’s. 

After about an hour and a half of no action, my cohorts decided to join the docents upstream at Valley Nursery. I decided to hang out in the sun at the platform a little longer. I was glad I did because at about 12:30 I heard the unmistakable sound of excited children running down the path. A mom, three kids plus grandma came to Salmon Tours. Grandma had received an e-mail from the Kingston Chamber about the event.

The two brothers and younger sister were everywhere at once. I apologized for the lack of viewable fish, but they were undeterred, searching high and low. The boys gave me their rapt attention when I began spewing out my Salmon story. They were amazed by the determination of these critters. The boys especially liked hearing about the Chum Salmons camouflage spawning outfit.

Then, as if on cue, a lone Chum Salmon came into view and swam right toward us. The group got to see its markings and even identified the fish as a female by looking at the ID card. I’m only sorry that they didn’t get to see the mass spawning that took place. They were excited none the less.

Do people want to view Salmon? If participation at this year's Salmon Tours is an indication, then no. But I can't help to think, yes they do. They just need to a) know about it b) be asked to sites that actually have fish!

Ideas:

• Create an iconic sign - similar to the "The Salmon are Running" one that is at the Grover's Creek Hatchery. People need to know that this means they can stop and look at Salmon when they see the sign.
• Have docents available on the fishes' schedules - not ours. That may mean that docents will have to be flexible and Salmon Tours won't all be on the same day. May be a little difficult to do - but not impossible.
• Do much more outreach to make sure that people are aware of the Salmon viewing opportunities.