Hatcheries Try to Get Natural ; Fish Biologists Think They Can Help Salmon Return to the Wild
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Summary
ROZA DAM, Yakima County - One by one, every spring chinook salmon bound for the upper Yakima River must pass through a Winter Olympics- style luge.
Situated inside a building on the receiving end of a fish ladder near Yakima, the chute leads from a mechanized holding pen down into a network of still more chutes. On the upper end, biologist Mark Johnston checks each fish for a telltale adipose fin and calls out the result.See the full content of this document
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Hatcheries Try to Get Natural ; Fish Biologists Think They Can Help Salmon Return to the Wild
"Wild. Wild. Hatchery. Wild..."
Depending on Johnston's call (adipose fins are clipped on hatchery-raised fish), an operator at the bottom of the chute triggers a hydraulic flap diverting each fish to the most appropriate path. One leads to a smaller holding pen. Another shoots them toward a truck bound for a state-of-the-art hatchery an hour away...See the full content of this document
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