Join us for our annual Salmon Release at the Des Moines Creek Trail Park!

Coho salmon from the Soos Creek Hatchery are back and being raised in an aquarium in the lobby of the SeaTac Community Center. Visit us to watch as they develop into salmon fry over the next few weeks!

Since 2020, the City of SeaTac has raised salmon each year to be released into Des Moines Creek. The Coho Salmon eggs are picked up from the Soos Creek Hatchery at the beginning of the year and when they grow into "fry", they are released into the Des Moines Creek in the Spring. The salmon spend about a year feeding and growing in the creek before migrating out to the Puget Sound and ocean. There, they continue to grow for about a year and a half. At the end of their life, the salmon will return to their “natal stream”, or the stream they were born in, to spawn. They will lay eggs and the cycle starts over again.

One of the factors impacting salmon health in our creeks is urban runoff. When it rains, water is washed into storm drains and enters nearby creeks and waterways mostly without any treatment. This water can carry pollutants that impact salmon. Over the last few decades as more and more roads, parking lots, and buildings are built, more stormwater runs off and into our streams.

Today, the pre-spawn mortality of salmon in Miller Creek, one of our local creeks, is 2 out of 3. This means that 2 out of 3 salmon that return to the creek are dying before they are able to reproduce and carry on the next generation of salmon.

There are many things that can help make the stormwater runoff cleaner and improve salmon health. Click to learn more >>