Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force
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Satsop Steelhead Broodstocking
Background:
The Satsop Steelhead Broodstocking project is
currently suspended. When running it is operated by the
Satsop Native Broodstock Effort with funding assistance provided by the
Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force. The focus of the project is to
provide wild Steelhead for a
recreational fishery that supports the establishment of unmarked wild
reproducing Steelhead in relation to artificially enhanced volumes of
harvestable fish.
Annually, volunteers catch 55 pair of wild Steelhead with hook and line. The Steelhead are kept at a temporary facility near Doty, Washington and then shipped to Bingham Hatchery to be spawned. The juvenile offspring of these wild fish are raised at the hatchery for a short time and returned to the upper Satsop.
After the fish are released and make their way to the sea to mature, they return to the stream where they were raised. This cycle not only provides fish for sport and tribal harvest, but also promotes the continuation of native fish runs that are so vital to the upper Chehalis region
Accomplishments:
In 2002, the Satsop Steelhead Broodstocking
Project released 60,000 winter Steelhead smolts, plus 80,000 Steelhead
juveniles into the east fork of the Satsop River and Decker Creek.
2003 volunteer man-hours for this project: 3192.