May-June, 2023
I kept driving past this sign that said “fish hatchery”. Every time I went anywhere in my big white truck, or with my camping friends in their vehicle, we drove past this sign. Today as I drove past this sign by myself on my way to somewhere, I decided to make a quick turn, to drive in and see what I could see. I’m glad I did!
First off, here’s a Google Earth image of the fish hatchery. Turns out it’s one of the largest fish hatcheries in the USA.
Below, back down on the earth, here’s the main administration building. Besides admin offices, it had tons of exhibits and explanations.
I’ll share just five photos with you from those exhibits. First photo is salmon. Next four photos after that are the predators of salmon!
There are other predators too … bear and river otters and raccoons here inland … predators out in the ocean include Orca, seals, sharks, and even halibut and tuna. Lots of folks like to eat salmon.
But back here at the Leavenworth fish hatchery, let’s read a bit about the history of this hatchery. [“Steelhead” by the way, is a variety of trout that breeds up in rivers but travels to the ocean and back, similar to how salmon do that.]
So, how do the fish get here to this hatchery? And what happens to them when they get here?
The photo below is also from Google Earth but with arrows by me. 🙂 The RED arrow is Icicle Creek flowing downhill. That downhill flowing water runs across a human-made spillway or raceway that the fish swimming UP-river cannot get over … the water is running too fast and the spillway is too tall. So, the fish, who are swimming up-river (the largest YELLOW arrow) reach the bottom of that spillway and cannot proceed. So they turn and climb the fish ladder and end up in the Leavenworth fish hatchery where they are collected for further distribution and gathering of eggs and such.
The photo below is of the spillway.
And here’s a very short video of the spillway, taken while I was looking up at the water flowing downhill.
The fish ladder, below, was a much easier option for the salmon! Jump once, rest in the calm parts, jump again, etc.
Eventually, the fish climb that ladder, then are collected and sorted in the facility in the photo below.
Here’s a photo (below) of the construction of the spillway … maybe you can see how huge it is!
Ah, but then the fish have arrived using that fish ladder, and they are intent on spawning. So the eggs are removed from the females and sperm is removed from the males. Had they been able to spawn naturally, the adults would then die. So the fish here are killed humanely (I’ve watched it), and the process of incubating the fertilized eggs then proceeds. They are incubated in trays, and then as the eggs grow they are moved to the larger green tanks. Be sure to read the sign in the photo below.
When they get big enough, the fry are moved outside, outdoors … into other tanks that are roofed (to keep the water cooler) or to tanks that have no roof (for older fry).
Roofed tanks to the right. Non-roofed tanks to the left. Don’t miss the mountain scenery.
Older/original tanks above that are not often used any more. Newer uncovered tanks will be shown below.
And these newer roofed tanks were pretty cool.
Two levels in the tanks, to separate the fish, to help with cleaning, to help with cooling (or warming) depending on morning or afternoon angle of the sun.
And then the newer HUGE covered tanks … and maintenance.
And the newer huge uncovered tanks … and maintenance.
There are plenty of eagles hereabouts … and other birds and mammals who would love to find a way to get into these tanks and eat the salmon fry. So the tanks have screened mesh covers on them that are hinged and can be raised or lowered (opened or closed) … just like a door in your home is hinged.
The very long mesh “door” is on the left in the photo above and can be lowered to cover the water.
Below … the hand crank that raises or lowers those really long mesh screens.
In the photo below, the screen/mesh doors are lowered/closed. This first tank has screen on only part of the “door”. I don’t know why and there was no one around handy that I could ask. If you can enlarge the photo below and look at tanks further to the right, you’ll see some of those tanks have more screen mesh on their “doors”.
The young salmon, known as “fry”, feed on insects and other small organisms and on food fed to them by hatchery staff. As the fry grow, they are eventually released back into Icicle Creek and then swim downstream to larger rivers and eventually to the ocean. Icicle Creek feeds into the Wenatchee River which feeds into the Columbia River which flows into the mighty Pacific Ocean.
Here is a photo of Chinook Salmon fry … ready to be released so they can find their way back to the ocean. The cycle continues.
I love finding things/places/people like this fish hatchery while I’m out camping … places that I couldn’t have planned to visit because I didn’t know they were there. I love learning! 🙂