Something fishy is happening among the salmon that spawn in the rivers and streams that flow through Puget Sound. For several years now, the coho salmon, a species that returns to Seattle’s waters every fall, have been observed swimming in circles, disoriented, and then, opening and closing their mouths as if desperate to breathe, they die. Puget Soundkeeper, an environmental advocacy group, says large numbers of the females—sometimes as many as 90%—die before they are able to spawn.
The reason behind this, as well as similar deleterious effects on steelhead trout, Soundkeeper says, is the pollutants present in stormwater from bridges and highways that end up in the river and lakes.