Saturday, August 11, 2007 2:05 PM US/Western

River to recovery
By DON GRONNING staff writer

Greg Strom inspects a dead adult spring chinook salmon wednesday afeternoon prior to removing its PIT tag. The fish are tagged so they can be traced by researchers at the Cle Elum Supplementation and Research Facility. Photo by Joe Whiteside/Daily Record

CLE ELUM — There is no doubt about it, salmon face long odds. Through most of their history, they have spawned in the gravel of freshwater streams hundreds of miles from the ocean. Only a small percentage of those that are spawned make it to the ocean and back, where the cycle is repeated.

But a hatchery operated by the Yakama Nation is helping to improve those odds, said hatchery manager Charlie Strom, a Yakama Tribal member.

“We’re getting some good results,” said Strom, noting that in 2001 the first spring chinook sport fishery opened in the Upper Yakima River Basin. He said the fish have been caught by both tribal and non-tribal fishermen, with 2,610 taken by tribal fishers and 2,020 caught by non-tribal people.
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