An excerpt form www.fishfirst.com
President: Gary Loomis

NUTRIENT ENHANCEMENT

In the beginning, Fish First put 10,000 fertilized coho eggs in eight different egg boxes. Three years later, about seven to 15 fish returned to each box.

Then, Fish First realized that years of not having spawners on the creek had left it seriously deficient of nutrients. Volunteers started collecting hatchery carcasses and placing them in the streams, sometimes by truck, sometimes by hand carrying them upstream.

The result of putting nutrients back in the system are undeniable. Instead of seven to 15 fish returning per box, Fish First saw 250 to 400 fish return per box. While some of the increase can be attributable to a predictable cyclic swing in ocean conditions, a healthy part of the increase can be attributed to the nutrient enhancement efforts of Fish First.

Fish carcasses are not only great for the fish, but the entire river system.

Gary Loomis of "G. Loomis" appeared on a local fishing show (I believe it was Angler West) where he actually did this- throwing carcasses into stream beds to better enhance the ecosystem in order to provide sustainable runs for the future.  For tens of thousands of years, salmon have entered our northwest rivers and streams to spawn and die.  The carcasses provide fodder for micro-organisms and smaller crustaceans, which are a source of food for bugs and smaller fish....so on and so forth up the food chain...including salmon and steelhead smolts and fry.  The nitrogen from the carcasses is absorbed by the trees and plant life along the banks, creating healthy habitat for other creatures, bugs, worms, etc. 

I believe it is ILLEGAL to discard carcasses in some rivers in northern CA, so I have been advised by several DFG Wardens.  I volunteered at the Irongate Hatchery in 2008 and I was amazed (more like appalled) that the carcasses were not returned to the river.  I was told that the meat was to be processed and shipped to food banks, cat food makers, and fertilizer distributors.  I don't know how much truth there was to that info, but I do know that they weren't getting dumped back into the river.  Sounds ass-backwards to me.

I believe that the true measure of a healthy watershed should not be measure by numbers of returning fish only, but the entire ecosystem. 

didn't know it was ever illegal
I have always cleaned my fish at the river and dumped the rest in the water.Glad I didn't get hung out.
Now If I can learn how to catch steely's i'll be ready.

Trying to mass produce anything, even steelhead/salmon, will change anything, even a river. But science is starting to catch up with policy.  What can we do to help? I want my son to be able to fish.