Greetings Friends and Neighbors,
It’s that time of year again. The Coho Salmon are nearly ready for their charge up river to spawn. We are preparing to harvest local hatchery fish for our local North County Food Bank. We’ll be looking for volunteers to help with some basic fish hauling and soliciting some $ for the cause.
This effort is in cooperation with the good folks at ODFW. Last year we were able to capture 41% of the Waterhouse Falls fish trap run on the North Fork of the Nehalem River, for a total of 157 fish. Of these, 146 were filleted, processed and canned at The Tillamook Boat House in Garibaldi. This yielded 1,129 7.5 oz. cans for our local food bank! 11 fish were delivered directly to The Nehalem Bay House which provided 338 meals for the residents.
Darus Peake and the Tillamook Bay Boat House are graciously doing the filleting, processing and canning again this year at cost only. Last year the cost was $1,693.50. We received contributions from ODFW Hunters Fund and the North County Food Bank. This year our goal is to raise $2,000 and not use food bank funds. All contributions will of course be tax deductable. If you or someone you know, organization, business would like to contribute to a great cause, please let us know. We will also be looking for volunteers to help move the fish from capture site to process plant. This will entail a bit of cardio energy and not a bad little workout if you are up for it. Let’s just call it “the salmon stair master”. We’ll have morning and afternoon shifts that will probably not last more than a couple of hours including drive time, depending on the heaviness of the run on a given day. The time frame on this capture is roughly Oct. 1st to 21st when the fish are running. Bill Campbell will be coordinating volunteer availability as well as donations. All donations will go through our local North County Food Bank.
This year we also plan to deliver fresh fish to the Kilchis House in addition to afore mentioned Nehalem Bay House.
This is a great win win situation. Local salmon, staying local and providing a fabulous source of protein and omega 3s to our local community. Come out and join us and see this operation for yourself. It’s pretty cool.
Hope you are all having a fabulous Fall season. Oh, and please feel free to pass this along!
All the best,
Mike Ehlen
cell 503-307-0322
Bill Campbell
503-812-5668