Transported 'by land, by sea, by air,' endangered kokanee salmon released into Lake Sammamish

"We have now transported these little fish by land, by sea, by air," said King County Executive Dow Constantine to a large crowd gathered along the shore of Lake Sammamish on Wednesday evening.

Earlier this year, small planes carried roughly 12,000 offspring of Lake Sammamish kokanee salmon from a hatchery on Orcas island. There, they were protected from potentially hazardous conditions like warming waters.

After a brief celebration, Snoqualmie tribal members, Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group members, and officials from King County departed in three boats to release the endangered juvenile kokanee into the middle of Lake Sammamish at sunset.

“Ensuring the survival of native salmon requires persistence and ingenuity," Constantine said. “We’re seeing hopeful signs for the future of ‘the little red fish’ that has been part of tribal lifeways since time immemorial, and this is a moment to celebrate that progress."

Before the end of the year, roughly 14,200 kokanee will be released into in Lake Sammamish, including nearly 8,000 in October.

Snoqualmie tribal elder Lois Sweet Dorman hoped for a successful return of the fish. "To me, it's urgent," she said. "There are sacred cycles that need to be honored and this is one of those."

Sweet Dorman said that remembering how close the "amazing little red fish" came to extinction made the celebration feel bittersweet.

"We will be here; other people will come and go. We will be here and we will be fighting for the little red fish because the little red fish are us."