PORT ANGELES — Salmon eggs from the state Dungeness Hatchery are now in the Elwha watershed in an attempt to lessen impacts from an accidental kill late last month.
State biologists and fish managers last week approved the transfer of 116,500 coho eggs from the Dungeness facility to the Lower Elwha Klallam tribal hatchery.
The move was in response to a water pump failure at the tribal facility late last month that killed 600,000 of the tribe’s 850,000 coho hatchlings.
“It’s not something we want to get into a habit of doing,” Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Region 6 Fish Program Manager Ron Warren said Wednesday of the transfer.
He said the exception was made because the tribe didn’t have “a sufficient enough yearling program to adequately meet future broodstock needs.”