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The young can often be found around large boulders or log jams, and feed actively during the
summer. Adults die after spawning and contribute significant marine derived biomass to the
freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.
Escapement data
Of the 167 salmon bearing streams on the North Coast, 151 have supported runs of coho salmon. Of
these, 22 are identified as questionable stocks (fewer than 4 records >25 spawners). A complete list
of all coho streams is included in Appendix I and escapement trends are presented in Section 3.2.3.
Table 5 lists those streams that have average escapements >1500 fish. Historically, some streams
have had substantially large escapements including:
• Quaal River, 25,000 in 1966
• Kwinamass River, 20,000 in 1966
• Kingkown Inlet System, 15,000 in 1957
• Lowe Inlet System, 15,000 in 1966
• Quitonsta Creek, 15,000 in 1961
Table 5. Max and Mean escapement data (1950-2001) for coho streams in the NC LRMP area that have average
escapements >1500 fish.
Pink Salmon
Stream Name Max Mean
Quaal River 25,000 4,608
Kwinamass River 20,000 3,833
Kingkown Inlet System 15,000 3,330
Lowe Inlet System 15,000 2,996
Quitonsta Creek 15,000 2,837
Khutzeymateen River 10,000 2,214
Eagle Creek 9,000 2,209
Ecstall River 10,000 1,871
Clifford Creek 7,500 1,765
End Hill Creek 7,500 1,736
Salmon Creek 7,500 1,724
Stannard Creek 7,500 1,672
Description
This is the smallest of the Pacific salmon on the North Coast, with adults usually growing up to 30
inches long and weighing between 3 and 5 pounds (1.4-2.3 kg).
Life Cycle
Adults usually migrate from the ocean to freshwater to spawn between August and September. Pink
salmon are almost always two years old at maturity which often isolates even and odd year runs.
Even year runs predominate in the North Coast. Pink salmon are not known to be strong swimmers,
are rarely found above barriers in freshwater, and usually spawn in the lower reaches of main
systems. Eggs incubate over the winter, and fry migrate immediately to the ocean after emergence,
often using habitat in the intertidal areas adjacent to freshwater during their first summer in
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