A tale of two hatcheries: Fishery feast or famine

Fish hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest are feeling the heat. This year, warmer temperatures and lower snowpack have caused major fish die-offs. The High Desert is not spared, but it’s not as unlucky as some other spots.

Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery, is a product of its namesake springs. This year, however, is one of the hatchery’s worst in recent history.

In fact, this year it’s had to relocate more than 700 adult salmon because its river-fed water was too warm for them to survive. The fishery is still open to trap any wild fish swimming upstream, but this year, the effort has been unsuccessful.

“We’ve seen one whitefish, and that’s all that’s come through,” hatchery official Mary Beyer said Wednesday.

Usually, the facility traps at least 50 fish a night, because temperatures go down. The ideal temperature for river fish is about 55 degrees.

“We tested the water yesterday, and it was 60.1 degrees,” Beyer said.

It’s a temperature that is livable for fish, but not “happy,” as Beyer put it.

The hatchery’s mission is to catch wild fish, produce fish and relocate them. It’s a vital mission for increasing supply.

With weather such as it is, Beyer said she wonders, “Will my grandchildren be able to be a fisherman?”

It’s a much different scene downstream and 50 miles across the High Desert, at the Wizard Fall Fish Hatchery near Camp Sherman.

“I bring all the new family members out, too,” one visitor said. “You know, we’ve been doing it since we were little kids.”

Wizard Falls is filled to the brim with fish. It is not river-fed, but spring-fed from two separate springs — and that’s the difference. Water temperatures at this facility range 44 to 51 degrees.

“We have very cold consistent spring water,” said . In the history of the facility, it has never fluctuated in temperature or volume,” said Doug Curtis, a fisheries specialist at the Wizard Falls Hatchery.

Fish hatcheries on the High Desert are vital to meet the demands created by tourism, recreation and nature. Without them, and if the heat continues, fishing procedures as they stand could change — and not for the better.

Fishing hours already have been cut by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife on many rivers and streams around the state, due to the warm water temperatures putting stress on the fish.