Salmon Theft Deals Blow To Fishermen, Biologists

[Digger]

June 12, 2006
by Michelle Esteban

LEAVENWORTH - In one night, an entire fishing season was gone.

About 200 adult spring chinook weighing about 15 pounds each were stolen from the national fish hatchery in Leavenworth.

The theft will effect sport fishermen, river guides, biologists, and the salmon population itself.

"It's really devastating," said Corky Broaddus, Executive Director of the hatchery.

The thieves slipped into the Leavenworth hatchery late Friday night and made off with nearly 3,000 pounds of salmon.

"We're pretty bummed," said Broaddus. "It's not an easy thing to be part of, and to the guys and gals that work here, these are their babies."

Leavenworth's hatchery is one of the most successful in the country. Every year salmon return to their hatchery birth place - a 500-mile swim.

Travis Collier is a biologist at the hatchery and described the journey each salmon makes when it returns to spawn: "Coming from the ocean, up the Columbia River, through the hydro systems, into the Wenatchee River and then here into the Icicle River."

The hatchery's goal is to keep fish in river. To do that fish biologist need 1,000 fish to return to the hatchery every year.

With a fifth of the fish stolen and half of them females, at least 350,000 salmon eggs are gone too. The loss means no fishing.

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife on Monday announced that it would halt all chinook salmon sport fishing on the Icicle River near the hatchery starting June 14.

"There's a great economical hit," Broaddus said of the fishing closure.

Bob Stroup is an avid sport fisherman and has been fishing since he was a kid. "I'm really bitter inside," he said.

In one night, every fishing charter and river guide in the area lost their fishing season, meaning a loss of thousands of dollars in business.

"We have guys that are practically in tears over this whole thing," Stroup said. "It's a shockwave."

The state may allow fishing to resume when enough salmon are trapped to replace the stolen broodstock.

The thieves came in the middle of the night. They used an open road that leads to the back of the hatchery building and broke through a pad-locked fence in what appears to be an elaborate and well-planned operation. No one saw a thing.

The thieves used mesh panels to trap the salmon in their hatchery pond and then used a piece of metal fencing to push the salmon into an area where they could be collected.

"I hope they're caught," said Stroup. "And if they're not caught, I hope they don't sleep at night."

There is a way for the public to help. If you buy a salmon, and the fin on the salmon's back has been cut, then you likely have a hatchery fish. That's how hatchery biologists track the salmon. Or, if you filet a salmon, and find a small tracking device in the stomach cavity, call the Leavenworth hatchery at (509) 548-7641.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

That is a real sad thing.......

[Darian]

The more I think about this the more I have to conclude that the thieves have to be in a very narrow profile or spectrum of people. I tend o think that they had to be a commercial operation of some sort. Not pointing fingers at any individuals, but how about a failed acquaculture (Salmon farming) operation, a tribal group with grievances or PETA A theft that big will attract some attention from law enforcement.