| By Joan Jones | |
| SouthernOregonNews.com |
ROSEBURG, Oregon - Coos River Salmon Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) volunteers recently donated 684 Chinook salmon and 17 coho salmon to the Oregon Food Bank. The salmon were hatchery-reared fish that returned to the Noble Creek STEP facility from the ocean to complete their life cycle.
After meeting egg take needs and fulfilling tribal obligations, ODFW hatcheries and STEP facilities regularly donate excess returning hatchery fish to the Oregon Food Bank. The fish are processed, packaged and frozen by American/Canadian Fisheries, Inc. then distributed to regional food banks across the state. Coos and Curry county food banks received approximately 2,500 pounds of salmon last year for distribution to needy families.
"Ideally, most of these fish would be caught in the ocean and in-basin sport fisheries, and only those numbers of fish needed for brood stock would make it back to the hatchery traps," said Mike Gray, District Fish Biologist. "But even with excellent fisheries in Coos Bay, a high percentage of salmon slip through the anglers. In recent years, the Noble Creek facility has had more fish return than necessary to produce the next generation of hatchery fish."
Coos River STEP volunteers meet one day per week during the spawning season to sort and spawn fish, collect biological data and prepare carcasses for stream enrichment. Carcasses of spawned and non-food quality fish are placed in local stream to return nutrients to the food chain.
Contact:
Meghan Collins (541) 440-3353 Fax: (541) 673-0372
For more about STEP, go to http://www.steponline.info/
Source: http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=319094&cp=1099