The Kalama Creek hatchery, which was moderized in 2023, will release fewer fish in 2025 under a lawsuit settlement with two environmental groups. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is closing two Southwest Washington hatchery programs and lowering releases at another as a part of a settlement agreement stemming from a lawsuit by two environmental groups.
The Washougal River winter steelhead hatchery program will close near the end of the year. The Deep River net pens coho salmon program in Wahkiakum County will close by April. And the Kalama River/Fallert Creek Chinook salmon hatchery program will release only 1.9 million hatchery fish in 2025.
The settlement is the latest development in an eight-year battle over hatcheries’ role in salmon recovery as wild salmon stocks continue to struggle after decades of decline.
To government fish managers, hatcheries are the key to balancing salmon conservation with commercial and recreational fish harvests. Environmentalists view hatcheries instead as a direct cause of the potential local extinction of wild salmon.