Friday April 21, 2023
Port Townsend Leader —
The Hood Canal Bridge is a dead end.
It is, at least, for salmon trying to get past it.
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer got a first-hand look last week at what’s largely become a 2-kilometer-long Death Row for juvenile steelhead that are headed to the sea.
The 6th District congressman also got an extensive on-water briefing on what Long Live the Kings hopes will be a fish-saving solution: a “fish guidance structure” called a fillet that can be seasonally bolted into the 90-degree corners of the bridge’s pontoons.
It’s those sharp corners at the waterline of the bridge that essentially trap fish like steelhead on the south side of the span.