Sewer outfalls

[Splitshot]

I'm always looking for places to bank fish. I noticed some good ones on the lower Snohomish as I-5 crosses it. And then saw the treatment plant on the other side. Found a map for comon sewer outfalls (CSO's) which are designed to dump sewage and storm runoff into the Snohomish River and Gardner Bay when it rains. All waste goes to the treatment plant on a dry day.

Would knowing this stop you from taking fish from these waters back to your table. I hear people take Sturgeon from these areas.?

Outfall map

[Splitshot]

Must have been a little too much reality.

Sorry about that.

[DoubleR]

I've noticed that there seems to be a lot more brown trout in the river below an outfall. But they seem to have lock jaw.

[fishingboy]

wait am I hearing brown trout in the Snohomish river?

[wolverine]

Lumpy back brown "trout".

[BentRod]

I hear they taste like crap.

[Matt]

Lol, to answer your question REALISTICALLY I would say that any anadromous fish taken from the system should be fine to eat. Salmon, steelhead, dollys, and trout spend small amounts of time in the estuary when returning as adults so I wouldn't be too concerned with eating those guys.

I definitely would NOT eat any species of ground fish out of the brackish lower sections of the river, but then again I don't eat any ground fish out of the sound due to pollutants and parasites either. I would steer clear of flounder, sculpins, etc. out of the sloughs and lower river.

Sturgeon offer more of a dilemma. They mainly eat carrion and small crustaceans that spend their lives rooting around in the loose sedimentary layer on the bottom which is where a lot of contaminants also like to accumulate, and they live for a LONG time. Generally, the keeper sized sturgeon are likely 12-25 years old. Although they enter the estuaries to feed, they spend most of their lives out in the sound, and possibly even out in open water. It is speculated that no populations of sturgeon actually breed in PS waters, but in fact they migrate back to either the Fraser system in Canada or the Big C to do the dirty before migrating back into PS to feed. I would say that eating Sturgeon out of the Snoho, Stilly, and Skag system is probably fine IN MODERATION and due to the fact that the yearly limit on them is only 2 fish this shouldn't be a problem. As is the case with most fish in polluted areas nowadays if you keep your consumption at moderate levels the deleterious compounds found in the fish's flesh don't have to opportunity to accumulate to dangerous levels in the body.

Personally, I see the Puget Sound sturgeon as a real gift and don't really advocate keeping and eating them. They offer a great catch and release fishery, but it would be pretty easy for people to get really excited and over fish them.

[Splitshot]

Great answer Matt- thanks.

The others where funny though, I didn't see that coming.
Maybe they should rename them s'turd'geon...

[racfish]

In the Seattle area in which I live sewer back ups go into Lk Wa.Just recently they closed off a sewer backfllow pipe. City and State govt make it a real hush hush situation. Alot of bodies of water get sewer backups.Salmon caught in the Duwamish taste like the Duwamish. Those fish I give away.Lower Snohomish is the same thing.I've seen the lower Columbia strewn with sludge and oils too. Until our govt fines and shuts down business violators it will not get better.Fineing Boeing 10 grand dosent even phase them. Its a write off for them.Fineing Lone Star for the continued lime runoff into the river gets a minimal fine and continues on dumping.Tug companies,Container ships and so on pollute the waters as well.Do we stop business to stop pollution or do we want big business in the N.W.?

[Splitshot]

Industrial pollution sounds a lot worse than sewage or storm water. But people flush a lot more down the crapper than just "Brown trout". I grew up in a time when people used to dump their used motor oil down the storm drain. Thank God times have changed but we could really use an on-going public awareness campaign. With state budgets the way they are, it's not going to happen any time soon.

My brother used to work at Glacier Northwest (concrete) under the West Seattle bridge. I know the EPA watched them like a hawk, waiting to swoop down with heavy fines if they spilled a drop of waste water into the Duwamish.

Industrial waste is bad- no argument there. But I think there needs to be a balance between human activity and environmental protection. The decision not to salt Seattle’s streets during the winter of ’08 and the states decision to purchase Maury Island to prevent the continued gravel pit operations are examples of “feel good” versus common sense. IMO. (Sorry, starting to stray political here. )

[Matt]

Aside form all of that stuff stormwater runoff is usually diverted right into nearby water bodies and that stuff picks up ever piece of crap off the road and peoples yards (fertilizer is a beast) and carries it right into the water. If you are ever fishing below a bridge check out the holes that drain straight through from the road into the water, makes me cringe every time.

[cudaman]

outfalls can be good