Idaho’s State Department of Fish and Game says the salmon have returned. This years tracking totals over 800 sockeye salmon, the most since they started tracking the fish in 1985.

Some of the salmon eggs harvested will be raised in fish hatcheries. Some adult sockeye were released in area lakes to spawn naturally.

The captive breeding program began in the 90’s. Sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka) were the first Idaho salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Redfish Lake sockeye enter the Columbia River in summer and reach Redfish lake in late summer. They spawn in October in the lake shallows. The young fish emerge in spring and feed in the lake for a year or two before beginning their migration to the ocean. Most spend about two years in the ocean before returning.

The fish have a long way to go to return to their numbers of the late 1800’s when their numbers were estimated at 25-35,000, but it’s a great start.

salmon