Simm’s Creek Stewards volunteers participated in the annual fin-clipping at Quinsam Hatchery last week, assisting staff to mark 2,500 Coho salmon smolt, which will be released later this year into Simm’s Creek.
The adipose fin is not critical to locomotion for the fish, and is clipped off once the tiny fish have been anesthetized. When adult salmon return and are caught, the absence of this fin lets fisherman know that they have pulled in a hatchery fish rather than one hatched wild in a stream.