July 24, 2010 - In and Out, Up and Down

Boaters heading out to the Puget Sound wait their turn at the Hiram Chittenden locks to leave Lake Washington. The locks are the terminus of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and lower ships 20-22 feet to the saltwater of Puget Sound. To prevent saltwater intrusion into the Lake Washington waterways a salt water barrier on the allows the heavier salt water to sink to the bottom and be returned to the Puget Sound.

Meanwhile, other boaters coming in from Puget Sound are headed west into the fresh water of Salmon Bay, Lake Union and Lake Washington are being raised up to the lake level in one of the locks. There are two locks. The larger one can accommodate vessels as long as 760 feet. The largest Washington State ferries are 460 feet, but about 10 feet too wide for the locks. Each year, in addition to thousands of pleasure craft, over 1 million tons of goods pass through the locks.

July is the start of the Sockeye run. Part way through the second month of the run over 135,000 Sockeye salmon have passed through the fish ladder that bypasses the locks and are headed in and up towards their fresh water spawning grounds from the Pacific. The 2010 forecast only anticipated 123,000 Sockeye to return the entire run.