The Wild Steelhead Coalition is excited to present Episode 3 of Steelhead Country – The Hatchery Fix.
As anglers began flocking to Steelhead Country in the 1950’s, the Washington Department of Fisheries and other agencies saw industrial-scale fish farming through hatcheries as the answer to rapidly increasing harvest. Selecting a fast-growing, early-returning stock of steelhead from the infamous Chambers Creek for mass production across the region, the agencies sought to enhance the native stocks and increase overall returns.
They were successful, at first. But over decades as increasing hatchery plants of Chambers Creek steelhead failed to reverse diminishing returns and heavy harvest decimated early-returning wild steelhead, both anglers and scientists began to wonder: could a fish raised on food pellets in a concrete tank ever compare with the resilient wild steelhead?
Check out episodes 1, 2, and 3 of the film series now available online, then take action and help bring back Steelhead Country. And stay tuned for the release of a new episode every Monday through April 24.
