Coho Production Continuing At Eagle Creek NFH

Production of coho will continue at Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery for the next two years at least, per federal officials.

Rumors have swirled around the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facility on the Clackamas River tributary east of Portland since early October, but this morning a spokeswoman firmed up 2025 and 2026 production and release plans.

“Coho salmon production is ongoing at Eagle Creek NFH, with juvenile salmon being reared for release in spring 2025. Fertilized eggs are onsite for the on-station 2026 release. There are no changes in salmon releases from the hatchery,” stated Lena Chang, a public affairs officer with the service.

As of yesterday, 9,031 coho had returned this fall, well in excess of the 3,000 needed for broodstock.

Some 850,000 young coho have been reared annually at the hatchery, with 500,000 or so used by the Yakama Nation for reintroductions in Central Washington as well as in Idaho’s Clearwater system, and 350,000 released into the Clackamas to fuel sport fisheries there and beyond. Recent years have seen angler harvests of as many as 3,345 clipped coho in the Clack, Eagle Creek and Willamette below the falls to a low of 792, per ODFW catch records.

Eagle Creek NFH is one of several hatcheries funded by 1938’s Mitchell Act to mitigate for the Columbia River hydropower system and other development in the watershed as well as provide economic benefits, support treaties and maintain cultural traditions in the region. Funds are appropriated annually by Congress and disbursed by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Earlier this week, Liz Hamilton, policy director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, told this reporter that the Yakama Nation was making the facility one of their top funding priorities for 2025, lending optimism that the lights would stay on over the near term, and that her Oregon City-based organization was supporting comanagers’ and sovereigns’ efforts around that.