KALAMA — About 2.4 million young fall chinook salmon at Fallert Creek Hatchery on the lower Kalama River died last week when flood waters inundated the facility in Cowlitz County.
The fish died after a wave of mud, water and trees swept down on the hatchery during heavy rains on Dec. 8, overtopping rearing ponds and hatchery raceways, said Kelly Cunningham, deputy assistant director for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Program.
The young salmon were the “tule’’ strain of fall chinook and comprise about 15 percent of the total fall chinook produced by Washington hatcheries downstream of Bonneville Dam.
Tule chinook fuel ocean sport catches and are important at Buoy 10, the summer salmon fishery in the lower 16 miles of the Columbia River.
“Those fish will be missed, particularly in the ocean fishery,’’ Cunningham said. “Tules really drive the recreational fishery off the coast.’’
One pond at Fallert Creek was nearly full of mud, prompting hatchery workers to release half of the 500,000 spring chinook fingerlings at the facility into the Kalama River several months early, Cunningham said.
A hatchery worker discovered the problem when he heard a loud crash while preparing dinner. Walking down the hill from his house, he saw that a culvert near the hatchery was plugged with debris and water was flowing straight into the facility.
Kalama Falls Hatchery, farther upstream was not affected by the flooding and is raising 4.9 million tule chinook for release in June.
“We’re still in the process of assessing our losses and cleaning up mud and debris,’’ he said. “It’s going to take a while to develop a complete damage estimate.’’
