Hatchery Spring Release Report

Greetings, FISH friends! Today we present our spring fish release numbers — plus important information on a chinook study being launched by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to try to better understand and combat fish predation on our outgoing salmon smolt. It’s a really important issue, and let’s hope this study brings the results we need. Read on…

Rainbow Trout:

• 6,500 planted in Beaver Lake
• 8,500 planted in Lake Desire

Chinook salmon:

• 3,100,000 released in Issaquah Creek

Coho salmon:

• 465,000 released in Issaquah Creek

PIT TAG STUDY:
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is running a study this spring, putting PIT tags into chinook smolt and releasing them over a range of time. The study will test the theory that if they are released early, when the lake water is cold, those warm-water fish that account for a great deal of the predation our smolt face have not fully woken up, and more of the smolts will make it across the lake. The PIT tags will be detected in several locations, including their passage through Chittenden Locks to Puget  Sound, allowing the WDFW to better understand the predation issues with these young fish and to put into place better practices for the survival of our own salmon. A total of 5,000 tagged fish are planned to be released over the course of the spring releases. The study was made possible through a generous grant from the Candy & Don Havens Foundation