Cole Rivers Hatchery is the largest producer of hatchery fish on the coast of Oregon. Almost all of the fish production at Cole Rivers is done to mitigate for the fish production that was lost when miles of high quality fish habitat was blocked by Applegate Dam (Applegate Reservoir) and William Jess Dam (Lost Creek Reservoir).
The annual production goals at Cole Rivers are listed below:
Spring Chinook Salmon |
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1,703,250 smolts |
Coho Salmon |
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75,000 smolts |
Summer Steelhead |
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220,000 smolts |
Rogue Winter Steelhead |
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132,000 smolts |
Applegate Winter Steelhead |
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132,000 smolts |
Since 2007 all releases at Cole Rivers have been adipose fin-marked. We strive to remove the adipose fin on 100% of our hatchery Spring Chinook, Summer/Winter Steelhead, and Coho. A portion of the salmon releases receive coded wire tags in addition to the fin-clip to help fisheries managers evaluate catch and survival rates and project results. A portion of the steelhead releases receive additional marks to evaluate projects.
Returns to Cole Rivers enter the collection pond at the hatchery. Roughly weekly, the fish are counted out of the pond. The count of fish is summarized for each brood year.
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