Fish collector could boost Baker Lake summer sockeye numbers

By Mark Yuasa
Seattle Times

Baker Lake summer sockeye could soon see a dramatic boost in returns.

Puget Sound Energy work crews launched a second 1,100-ton barge fish collector March 1, anchored just above Lower Baker Dam on Lake Shannon.

“If you’re a sockeye fan, this is yet another great thing for the (Baker-Skagit river) system,” said Brett Barkdull, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in La Conner.

The huge floating barge has netting that draws migrating juvenile salmon into a funnel where they’re held in tanks and evaluated. Fish are then transferred by trucks below the two dams, and eventually released into the river to complete their outbound migration. Read more