Building Millions of Healthy Returns

KETA CREEK FISH HATCHERY — Under sheltering rain clouds and high water last month, 1.5 million Chum Salmon fry took a twisting, turning waterslide out of rearing tanks at Muckleshoot's Keta Creek hatchery and splashed out to freedom in Crisp Creek and the Green River.

They were the first big release of about 5.3 million Chum fry raised at Keta Creek this year. The little fish will travel more than 27 river miles to the mouth of the Duwamish River in less than 30 hours. Those that escape the Trout, Herons, Cormorants, and other predators along the way are now feeding and growing in the briny waters of Puget Sound.

“We’ve put down the foundation to make sure our people, and everyone in the area, will be able to enjoy the benefits of a robust salmon run that was really on the brink half a century ago.”

— Muckleshoot Tribal Councilmember Leeroy Courville

It’s all part of a wildly successful program initiated, supported and sustained by Muckleshoot’s Fisheries Commission.

Commission Chairman Leeroy Courville said it’s part of the forward thinking that the Tribe and the Commission applies to all their investments.

Hatchery managers look for dark skies and cloudy water on release days to provide cover for the fry on their perilous journey to the salt water. The strategy has paid off with returns so strong, Tribal fisherman reported catches that literally sunk their nets last fall.

For the Tribe and the fisheries personnel, that’s something to smile about.

Keta Creek Fish Production Specialist Ed Hamilton said releasing so many healthy fish after caring for them since they were in egg trays was not only an important milestone but also a relief.

“It’s the culmination of why we do this work,” Hamilton said. “We are giving these fish the best start to life we can in hopes that we will see another massive return like we’ve seen these last few years.”

— Keta Creek Fish Production Specialist Ed Hamilton

At one of the seven stock-tank sized rearing tanks emptied on the morning’s first release, more than 200,000 fish swam against a gentle circular current that helped condition them for the trip to the saltwater. Hamilton compared them to little body builders working out on a high-protein diet.

“They are in really good shape,” he said.

Hamilton said that the success translates into more Tribal members expressing their heritage and exercising their Treaty Rights.

“Seeing the number of fishermen fishing for these fish nearly triple from what it was when I first started, it’s a huge measure of success and I do take a lot of personal pride in it,” Hamilton said.

Then hatchery staff lifted the hatch and opened the drain pipe sending them all swirling and swimming down to the creek outlet below the facility. With preprogrammed precision, the shimmering silver slivers turned downstream and took off.

After spending time and growing in Puget Sound they will head up as far as the Gulf of Alaska before returning to their natal waters in three, four, or for about five percent of the fish, even five years.

Muckleshoot established Keta Creek hatchery and the Chum program in the late 1970s. Then in 2018, they expanded the program significantly, adding circular rearing tanks to accommodate increased production levels.

And the proof is in the harvest. Fall returns in 2023 and 2024 set new records in terms of harvest and total numbers of adult fish that made it back to the hatchery.