Sakai Salmon Program

Each Spring, Sonoji Sakai Intermediate School students release chum salmon into Murden Creek, which flows directly behind the school. All students participate in this incredibly special and memorable activity. Sakai receives a few thousand chum eggs from the Suquamish Tribe's local fish hatchery in the Fall and raises them in a central tank where the students can watch them grow over the winter into alevin (newly hatched fish) and then into fry, ready for release in Spring.

Given the low numbers of salmon released and the very high natural rate of mortality of our salmon ( 0.1% or less of naturally spawned salmon are expected to survive to adulthood), it is not expected that many of our released fish will survive to return to Murden Creek. However, these salmon become part of the food web of Puget Sound, and are an invaluable learning opportunity for our students to learn about the local, iconic salmon species that call our waters home.

Please see below for additional resources and information for our community and parent volunteers. We are so grateful for their support and participation, this program could not be successful without them!

Information for Volunteers

Every year community and parent volunteers are what make our program a success. If you are interested in helping with this program, please contact the Sakai volunteer coordinator. Please note you must be an approved volunteer with the district in order to participate in this program.

The documents linked here are to help you as a parent or community volunteer, once you have signed up to participate in the salmon release, understand your role in the Salmon Release program. There are two main positions to assist with the release: the role of the lead interpreter, who walks the class down to the stream and speaks along the way and at the stream about the salmon and watershed; and streamside salmon release volunteers that help the students release the salmon into the stream.

If you have signed up as a lead interpreter for one or more classes releasing salmon: please click here for a guidance document that provides talking points for the guided walk down to the stream.

If you have signed up as a streamside salmon release volunteer, please click here for instructions that explain your role in the salmon release.

Additional Information

If you are interested in learning more about our salmon species here in Puget Sound and their stewardship and protection, there are a wealth of additional resources available on the web. Here are a few good sources of information:

• The Suquamish Tribe's Salmon Recovery Program: our local tribe and partner that provides us with our Sakai salmon for release. The tribe is actively involved in many efforts to help restore and protect our local salmon and their habitats.
• Here's a 3-minute video that provides a nice overview of the life cycle of pacific salmon.
• The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has extensive information available about Salmon species found in our state. Here is a link to information on the chum salmon fishery, the species we release in our program.
• Salmon recovery in our state is administered by what are known as Lead Entity groups, a mix of local and tribal jurisdictions that work cooperatively on salmon protection and habitat restoration efforts. Bainbridge is part of the lead entity known as the West Sound Watershed Council.