Hatcheries in California are releasing tens of millions of salmon smolts in 2022, per normal operations. State hatcheries are trucking over ten million fall-run salmon to the Bay again this spring because of the drought. State and federal hatcheries are … Continue reading
The American River provides approximately 20-40% of the Central Valley fall Chinook run each year. Most of the American River run is derived from hatchery smolt releases from the Nimbus American River Hatchery. In this post, I suggest hatchery and … Continue reading
The Delta is an important nursery area for Central Valley Salmon. This fact continues to be ignored or under-appreciated. The phenomenon is fully consistent with the general science on salmon in their southern range in the eastern Pacific. Nearly all … Continue reading
The federal-state Salmon Rebuilding Plan for Sacramento River Fall Chinook (SRFC) (July 2019)1 was developed by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) under a grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The plan was developed because the SRFC escapement … Continue reading
The Problem Hatcheries bypass the high mortality life-history phases of wild salmon populations. As a result, hatcheries contribute far greater salmon smolt production to the ocean per number of eggs than do wild populations. Without hatcheries, the replacement rate of … Continue reading