NEWS: How a ‘fish taxi’ helped lead to a record return of sockeye salmon near a Washington hydroelectric dam

Here’s a fun one: a “fish taxi” is being credited for record sockeye salmon return in Washington’s Skagit River. (Renewable Energy World)

• Puget Sound Energy reported a record 91,880 sockeye salmon returning to the river system this year, a stunning recovery from just 99 fish in the 1980s.

• The comeback stems from a 21-year partnership among PSE, state agencies, and the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, launched through PSE’s 2004 FERC license for the Baker Hydroelectric Project.

• A turning point came in 2010 with the installation of an upgraded fish trap and transport system—dubbed a “fish taxi”—that moves salmon around both Baker River dams to reach their historic spawning grounds.