HOURS
Open Every Day, dawn until dusk, FREE access
Our Commitment
Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hatchery (FISH) is here to protect out salmon for generations to come through education and community outreach.
Book A Tour
Spring hatchery tours, through May 30 — tours last 45 minutes, feature multiple spots around hatchery and cost a suggested donation of $10 a person and can be scheduled at least 7 days prior. Click here.
Spring school group tours are also available ($5 per person) and involve feeding the trout, viewing the aquarium and learning about the salmon life cycle. Read more here.
All tours are outdoors.
A recent publication describes a strategy that could make an immediate positive impact on Resident Orca populations: terminal fisheries. According to data, 80%+ of salmon caught off British Columbia and SE Alaska are of Washington and Oregon origin. This includes the Puget Sound Chinook populations (and from among others, Issaquah Salmon Hatchery), all of which are still under the EPA “threatened” designation. The concept of a terminal fishery is to wait until the returning fish have sorted themselves out, and design a harvest strategy on a run by run basis (Coho arrive at the hatchery a month later than the Chinook), rather than harvesting a mix of threatened and non-threatened runs on the high seas. This study suggests that switching to a terminal fishery strategy would make 25% more Chinook (the mainstay of the Resident orca diet) available to them. It may also increase the average size of the Chinook caught, by reducing the harvest of immature fish on the high seas.
The DFW released 915,000 Chinook smolt into the Issaquah Creek, on Monday 13, 2024. As the weather turns warmer, conditions get worse for the smolt.
Today we were lucky enough to catch a unique freshwater fish that calls Issaquah Creek home, a lamprey.