Heavy Rains Lead To Loss Of Some Fall Chinook Fry At Samish Hatchery

Heavy rains Sunday night led to a mechanical failure at a North Sound hatchery and the loss of some fall Chinook fry being reared there, but a WDFW spokesman says the agency doesn’t anticipate major impacts from it.

WDFW’s Chase Gunnell confirmed that “some Chinook in a holding pond were lost” early Monday morning after storm runoff resulted in a clog and hatchery staffers weren’t alerted to the equipment failure.

“WDFW is not expecting significant negative impacts from this loss,” Gunnell said late this afternoon.

If so, sport and commercial fishermen can breathe a little easier.

Samish is also one of the facilities where Chinook production has been increased as part of state and federal efforts to provide more forage at sea for southern resident killer whales. Lack of king salmon is believed to be one of three key reasons behind the decline of the iconic J, K and L pods.

WDFW’s hatchery complex here, part of which dates all the way back to 1899, includes an adult trap and holding ponds on the Samish River itself and a larger rearing facility on nearby Friday Creek. Both are located north of Burlington off of Old Highway 99 North.

Gunnell said the complex “puts out a lots of Chinook” and managers “run a tight ship.”

In late 2022, WDFW requested state lawmakers provide funding to replace the adult holding ponds with mixed-use ponds to expand production capacity in support of SRKW forage efforts and fisheries, arguing it would “provide additional space for rearing fall Chinook salmon.” While the 2023 legislature didn’t fund that, they did provide $150,000 for improvements to the intake at Friday Creek.

This story will be updated as more information comes in.