Tours

Tour Reservations
Tour Changes/Cancellations
How to Schedule a Weekday Tour
Safety at the Hatchery
Suggestions for Teachers Before Leaving School
Self-guided Tours

FISH now offers free tours on Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. during the fall spawning season. Drop in tours will begin September 3, 2011 and run through November 12, 2011. Reservations are not necessary – just show up at the hatchery near the bridge for your guided tour. FISH continues to also offer tours for groups of 10 or more throughout the year. These tours are also free, although donations are gladly accepted. While tours are available throughout the year, the biggest demand is in the fall when the adult salmon return to spawn. The main fall tour season is from September through mid-November, which is the best time to see salmon spawning in Issaquah Creek.

Tour Reservations

Reservations are required for guided tours. Tour times are 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tours are available for smaller groups from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. once a week, and weekend tours are available by appointment. (Weekend tours are often not necessary because trained docents are usually at the hatchery during weekend daylight hours to provide information to visitors). To request a weekend tour, please e-mail volunteer@issaquahfish.org.

Weekday tours must be scheduled ahead of time — we cannot accommodate groups that show up without a reservation! Please check the “how to schedule a tour” link for more information.

Tour Changes/cancellations

FISH will make every best effort to accommodate your group, however, we cannot change reservations within three (3) business days of a scheduled tour. If you must change your tour time, please do so at least three (3) days before-hand. If you cannot make a scheduled tour and it is within three (3) days of the reservation, please immediately call 425-392-8025 to leave a message to let us know that your group will not be coming.

We appreciate this information in order to respect the time of our valuable volunteers, many of whom take time off from work to come lead tours at the hatchery. We are thankful for our dedicated team of docents who make this experience possible for the thousands who take our tours annually.

If once you cancel your tour and you'd like to reschedule it for a later date (and that date is at least three (3) days after the originally scheduled date), please check for availability and we will try to accommodate your group.

How to Schedule a Weekday Tour

Tours may be scheduled for groups of 10 to 60 people per hour, with no more than 60 people (total) per hour. First click here to look at our calendar for available times to schedule a tour. If you see that 20 students are already scheduled for a time slot, this means that we can only take 40 more in that time slot.

Please send an e-mail with the following information (this is very important to facilitate the scheduling process) and we will get back to you as soon as possible:

Number of students/people
Age (grade) of students (if applicable)
School name
Contact name
Contact e-mail address
Contact phone number
Date and time you would like (and alternates)
A good time to reach you

Wait for confirmation of your tour – we will aim to get back to you within 24 hours (Monday through Friday) to let you know if your tour has been scheduled. If you do not hear from us within a couple of days, please contact us again. Your tour has not been scheduled until you have heard back from us.

Still have questions? See our Tour FAQs for additional information.

Safety at the Hatchery

Safety is a main concern for a hatchery visit – for the students, teachers, parents and the salmon. Here are some helpful tips to consider when visiting the Issaquah Hatchery:

The grounds are often extremely slippery, even when it is not raining and/or snowing. Also, because of the constant use of water, spillage can occur in all areas of the hatchery, which makes the grounds very slick.
Please walk (don’t run) in all areas of the hatchery and wear appropriate shoes.
Most of your visit will take place outside, so please dress for the weather.
Stay out of areas that are for employees-only – some areas pose a drowning hazard or a risk of exposure to harmful chemicals.
Please keep a safe distance from open pools of water, working machinery and egg incubation rooms.
Please do not touch the salmon! If a salmon jumps out of a holding tank, notify a hatchery staff member or docent to return it to the tank. Salmon have very sharp teeth, and a bite from a salmon can be toxic.
Help the salmon stay healthy by refraining from throwing objects into the ponds unless feeding is allowed by a staff member or docent.
Please remember that many students are using the hatchery in the fall and it can become quite crowded. Students should stay close to their tour leaders and chaperones.
If your group is planning to have lunch during your visit, we request that you please go across Newport Way to the sheltered area for your meal instead of staying on the hatchery grounds. The hatchery gets very crowded with tours and other visitors and there are no covered picnic areas, so lunching on the grounds is not recommended.
FISH docents are volunteers and are donating their time; please treat them with respect.
Chaperones and teachers, not the docents, are responsible for their students; please keep an eye on your students and keep them from straying or from any inappropriate behavior.
Parents and teachers: Please refrain from smoking or using inappropriate language on the hatchery grounds.

Suggestions for Teachers Before Leaving School

Make sure you have enough chaperones for your students. Tours are split into groups of 10, so there should be at least one chaperone for every 10 students.
Mention any special medical (or behavioral) needs of the students to the chaperones before leaving for the field trip.
Students should visit the restrooms before they leave (there are only two public bathrooms at the hatchery and lines can become quite long).
Students should have a coat before leaving for the hatchery.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation and look forward to seeing you at the hatchery!

Self-guided Tours

When tours are not available, the hatchery is still accessible, with lots of interesting hands-on educational exhibits to explore. We also have self-guided tour brochures available in the aquarium viewing room, located at the front central part of the main hatchery building --the long building with the green roof -- which is open from 8 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

PHOTO/VIDEO NOTIFICATION – The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery is a public facility where photos, videos and other media might be taken of individuals visiting the hatchery. At times FISH takes photos of visitors to use for publicity purposes (on our Website, in pamphlets, etc.) If you wish to not have your picture taken during a visit, please let the photographer know at the time of your visit.