Hatcheries cooperate to increase production

摘要

Hatchery managers for the state of Idaho, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the US Fish and Wildlife service have been working together to increase their juvenile fish-rearing capacity by about one million chinook per year. The hatcheries are located in the Clearwater Basin covering some 10,000 square miles spilling over the border into Montana.Becky Johnson, director for fish production for the Nez Peerce Tribe's fisheries division, explains that in the past few years the hatcheries have been able to increase the annual output of chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) by almost a third, to close to four million simply by juggling the production of the fish at different stages between the different facilities. In 2008 the four hatcheries produced about 3.65 million smolt and 1.2 million younger pre-smolt. This year, the hope is to raise 5.58 million smolt and 925,000 pre-smolt.