-That is a sockeye salmon!
We're out here at Carkeek Park
at our annual Salmon Celebration day event.
The Salmon Celebration day
is our biggest event of the season.
-Okay, thank you.
-We have activities, lots of education booths.
-Orcas! -Orcas!
-Lots of really cool
organizations coming out.
[ salmon splashing water ]
This year, we have tons of fish.
The most salmon you’re going to see are going to be chum.
They're also called dog salmon
because of their very prominent teeth.
-That is her testing to see if that's a good spot for a red.
Oh yeah. There we go. Perfect.
-This is part of our salmon stewards program.
-Oh, that one...
That one's got a big
hook in the side there.
-With Parks and Rec and Seattle Public Utilities.
-Seems to be a lot of them this year. Love nature.
I love sharing that with people.
And this is like
one of those rare
opportunities where people come out
and something is happening that's pulling them away
from their screens and their jobs.
[ water splashing ]
-Interesting to see kind of up close and personal,
like what what this lifecycle looks like.
-They're actually seeing life in action.
And I really like engaging
with people when they're in that mode
because it gives me an opportunity
to sort of share that joy and that love with them.
-Oh, I think it's it's really exciting to be able
to get my son out into nature like this.
-You watch them long enough,
you're going to witness something pretty cool,
because once they get up the courage and the energy,
they're going to try to make a push for getting over that weir.
-They only are in the stream for about ten days
and that's how long they will survive
after coming into the fresh water.
-You know, I guess I knew this was the end of their life.
I didn't expect to see so many dead salmon.
-A lot of people get really bummed when they see the dead fish.
And the reason we leave them
is because they bring in very important nutrients
from the ocean.
And when they die, they deposit those nutrients here.
And now we have all these beautiful trees
and animals that rely on those nutrients.
It's very hard to be a salmon.
-Salmon steward,
they're stationed up and down the creek
every Saturday and Sunday in November from 11 a.m.
to 2 p.m.
It's actually a incredibly important part
of this ecosystem, and it's one that's worth preserving.
[salmon splashing in water]