Priest Rapids Hatchery Operations and Maintenance Annual Report: July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012

Priest Rapids Hatchery (PRH) was designed as a mitigation facility for fall Chinook salmon after Priest Rapids and Wanapum Dams were constructed, and is principally funded by the Grant County Public Utility District (GCPUD). In addition, some production is funded by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) to meet a portion of their John Day Dam mitigation. PRH has been in continuous operation since September 1963, and is operated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). It is considered part of the WDFW’s Priest Rapids Hatchery Complex, which also includes the Ringold, Meseberg, Naches and Columbia Basin hatcheries.

The annual release goal for GCPUD’s mitigation requirement is 5 million smolts at 50 fish per pound (fpp). In the event of a shortfall in numbers, minimum production is 100,000 pounds. All trapping, spawning and rearing takes place at PRH. Up to 15 million eggs are taken annually to meet on-site hatchery goals and to support other programs in the Columbia River drainage. Since 1992, 1.7 million fall Chinook (50 fpp) have been reared and released at PRH as part of the USACE’s John Day Dam Mitigation.

Three full-time employees and one 9-month career-seasonal employee staff PRH. In addition, up to three non-permanent fish hatchery technicians are utilized during trapping, spawning, and rearing to handle heavy workloads. The hatchery technicians are required to live in the bunkroom on-site during egg and sac-fry incubation to provide �"standby” protection. This allows them to provide immediate response to alarms; necessary because housing for full-time employees on standby is located twenty minutes from the hatchery. A security firm also monitors the adult trap and access channel (Jackson Creek) during the time the fall Chinook come in to prevent fish loss from poaching.

Trapping of returning fall Chinook takes place approximately one mile south of the main hatchery facility. Fish are transported by truck to two channel ponds for holding. Spawning occurs adjacent to the holding ponds, and eggs are transferred by vehicle to the incubation building. After hatching, fish are transferred by truck to intermediate vinyl raceways, where they are introduced to feed. Ten to fourteen days later they are transferred to the five channel ponds for final rearing and release.

In addition to the incubation room, the main building is comprised of two offices, a bathroom and kitchen, boot room, storage room, and bunkroom. Other buildings on station include a walkin freezer and utility room for feed storage, a large shop with two semi-open covered bays for storage and enclosed shop area, six wells providing 6,650 gallons per minute of pathogen-free well water, a river-water intake, three degassing towers, and a multitude of other plumbing and electrical buildings. Eight raceways and two holding areas used by the PUD for rearing of study fish in the base of the old adult holding pond may possibly be utilized by WDFW in the future.