Hatcheries

Agreements & Biological Opinions | Fish Passage | Hatcheries
Habitat Restoration & Conservation

Over the past several decades, wild salmon populations have declined dramatically. Many salmon stocks in Washington and Oregon are now listed as either threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. With this decline has come an increased focus on the preservation of wild salmon stocks.

As part of the Priest Rapids Project operating license and associated federal regulations and agreements between Grant PUD and other agencies and tribes, Grant PUD has focused efforts toward increasing wild salmon stocks through artificial supplementation and habitat restoration and conservation.

The Priest Rapids Coordinating Committee, made up representatives from Grant PUD, NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Colville Confederated Tribes, Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, have established objectives to help recover natural fish populations to self-sustaining and harvestable levels through the mid-Columbia region and to mitigate for continued fish mortality.

This committee collaborates on decisions concerning fish programs for threatened and endangered upper Columbia River steelhead and spring Chinook. Currently, hatchery rearing is occurring or being pursued for White River, Nason Creek and Methow River spring Chinook. Programs for non-listed species are also underway, including the development and improvement of hatchery facilities for summer and fall Chinook. Grant PUD is also participating in programs to supplement and reintroduce regional sockeye and coho populations.

Priest Rapids Hatchery
The Priest Rapids Hatchery has one of the most successful adult Chinook salmon return rates of any hatchery in the Columbia River system.  The 4,000 square foot facility contains enough incubators to hold up to 15 million salmon eggs. 

The hatchery, located adjacent to Priest Rapids Dam, was originally built by Grant PUD in 1963 as a salmon spawning channel.  Starting in 1972, it was phased into a conventional hatchery operation.  Since 1987, all fish raised at the Priest Rapids site have come from returns to the hatchery.  Grant PUD pays all annual operating costs for the hatchery, which is staffed by personnel from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.  A large-scale remodel is planned in 2008 to upgrade the hatchery with state-of-the-art technology. 

Eggs used in the operations come from adult fall Chinook salmon voluntarily returning to the hatchery from the Columbia River.  Eggs are taken from adult females in October and November each year.  Fertilized eggs are moved into the hatchery building for incubation over the winter.  In the spring, juvenile salmon are moved to outdoor rearing ponds.

The hatchery produces approximately seven million fall Chinook smolts annually.

Hatchery Programs
Grant PUD funds and conducts many of its supplementation programs at off-site hatchery facilities, including:

• AquaSeed Inc., Rochester, WA – This private western Washington hatchery holds the White River captive broodstock to prevent the extinction of the few remaining White River spring Chinook adults. Spawning activities occur at AquaSeed prior to the transfer of eggs to the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery for rearing.
  
  
• Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery, Cook, WA – This U.S. Fish & Wildlife owned and operated hatchery rears fish for Grant PUD’s White River spring Chinook program. These fish are transported to the White River each spring to acclimate on their native water before their release.
  
  
• Methow Hatchery, Methow, WA – This Douglas PUD-owned facility produces Methow River spring Chinook for Grant PUD under a 10-year cooperative hatchery sharing agreement between the two utilities. These fish are released into the Methow River each year.
  
  
• Wells Hatchery, Pateros, WA – This facility, also owned by Douglas PUD, produces steelhead for Grant PUD under the 10-year agreement. These fish are released each year into the Methow and Okanogan rivers.
  
  
•  Cassimer-Bar Hatchery, Bridgeport, WA – This facility, located just below Chief Joseph Dam, is operated by the Colville Confederated Tribes. Under contractual agreement with Grant PUD, this hatchery currently produces 20,000 summer steelhead for release into Omak Creek.

• Shuswap Hatchery, Lumby, British Columbia, Canada – This hatchery currently supports production for Grant PUD’s sockeye mitigation requirements. Grant PUD has entered into a long-term partnership with the Canadian-based Okanagan Nation Alliance, with a commitment to support the 12-year supplementation program for sockeye salmon into the upper Columbia River via Skaha Lake fish releases.

Back to Top