Chum salmon prove surprisingly resistant to pollution
Scientists at Washington State University's stormwater research center in Puyallup recently made the surprising discovery that chum are unaffected by the same levels of toxic road runoff that quickly kills their coho cousins.
"Overall, the results were very surprising because I thought chum would show some signs of getting sick, like we saw with coho — but that didn't happen," WSU ecotoxicologist Jenifer McIntyre said.
Since 2012, the center has taken coho raised at a Suquamish Tribe hatchery and exposed them to stormwater captured from busy roadways.
Rain picks up oil, heavy metals and other containments from roofs, roads and parking lots and funnels them into creeks.
Even as newborns, they leave protected freshwater streams and head to open water earlier than other salmon species.
Even the problem of low dissolved oxygen, which has long plagued coho and other marine species in Hood Canal, is taken in stride by the resilient chum.