Fish that die naturally during the process are sold to processing plants, for fertilizer, etc., so nothing is wasted. The hatchery uses volunteers to assist in the tasks of the spawn and also throughout the year for maintenance and other tasks. The hatchery is also actively concerned with educating people about the river ecosystem.

The hatchery, located at 5 Table Mountain Blvd in Oroville, is open year round from 8am to sundown. John Ford of the Dept. of Water Resources also gives tours for school children. The children learn about the salmon and get to feed the fish. There is also a program for kids called the "Incubator in the Classroom". The hatchery provides eggs and the children can watch them develop, learning about the salmon and trout life cycles. Once we get to know a creature, as was the case of the whale, the more protective we become. The hatchery is also the site of the annual Salmon Festival in September of each year. This is a fun and educational day for the whole family.

Just up the road from our home, the Rowdy Creek Hatchery, Inc. operates on the confluence of Dominie Creek and Rowdy Creek in the town of Smith River. Rowdy Creek flows into the Smith River about 1 and 1 1/2 miles downstream from the hatchery; and about 2 miles further, the Smith River flows into the Pacific Ocean.

In 1968, the 15 members of the Kiwanis Club of Smith River made a courageous decision to do something about he declining stream population in Del Norte County. Since the California Department of Fish and Game failed to recognize that a problem existed, the club decided to build their own Salmon and Steelhead hatchery - realizing that permits for such a project would have to come from this very same agency. The Kiwanis Club decided to forge ahead and ignore DFG opposition. They had obtained the site, cleared it and built their concrete ponds before the news reached DFG via the press. In a meeting with the crew, Fish and Game demanded the project be stopped. Construction continued, and in a meeting with State Senator Jack Schrade, these avid fishermen garnered an ally. Senator Schrade led them through the bureaucratic maze; and his willingness to work and his ability to appreciate this vision led to an opportunity to address the California Fish and Game Commission (the DFG's boss).

The result of these efforts was the passage of special legislation permitting the Kiwanis Club to build and operate the only private fish hatchery in the State of California.

In 1973 the DFG began its Cooperative Fish Rearing Project (CFRP). Rowdy Creek is the largest of the cooperative fishing facilities. This program has involved partnerships with non-profit groups and corporations, service clubs, counties, Indian tribes, and many individuals. Projects range from San Luis Obispo to the Smith River. There are 3 ocean pen rearing sites where up to 240,000 Chinook fingerlings are brought from the Central Valley hatcheries for 3 months of acclimatizing before being released into the ocean. They are located in Santa Cruz Harbor, Monterey Bay and San Francisco Bay.

There is no question that logging, overfishing, and human development have taken their toll on the Smith River fish population. The Rowdy Creek fish hatchery is vital to the restoration of these salmon and steelhead runs. Since 1972 the total fish released into the Smith River watershed number 5 million Chinook (king), 95,000 Coho (silver) salmon and 1 million steelhead. All fish breeding stock are returned to the Smith and yearlings are not planted anywhere but in the Smith River. It has been determined that approximately 22% of sport fish caught in the Smith are hatchery fish. The impact is undeniable.

You can become familiar with this facility in a number of ways. Tours are given by appointment and children are encouraged to visit. You can sign up to participate in any of four steelhead derbies held each year in support of the hatchery. You can volunteer to work at the hatchery. For about a three week period in February and March volunteers can assist in the adipose clipping of steelhead. During the Salmon spawn in November and December, volunteers are needed to assist in various stages of gathering and processing the eggs.

This year the hatchery is initiating the Coded Wire Tag program. Some 53,000 of the hatchery salmon will be getting an adipose clip and a coded wire tag. This is a cooperative project between DFG, Humboldt State University and the Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery, with funding being provided by the Commercial Salmon Trollers' Association. The tagging procedure injects a tiny bar-coded wire into the nose of an anesthetized 2 1/2 inch long Chinook salmon at the same time that the adipose fin is removed. Once a machine detects that the tag is in place the fish are returned to ponds. This tagging will give valuable information about the survival rates and the migration patterns of the salmon.

This is where the fisherman comes into the picture. The tags must be recovered and recorded. They can be recovered from commercial catches, sport fishermen, spawned out carcasses in fresh water, and hatchery returns. The clopped adipose fin is used as an indicator that a coded wire tag is present. If you catch a marked fish, you can be a vital link in the project. Recording the location and date of recovery, the length and weight of the fish, and returning the front portion of the fish's head, along with a scale sample and this information to the hatchery or the DFG is your contribution. The hatchery is expecting to see the first tag-returns in the Fall of 2001.

This information is easy to obtain and crucial to the success of this project. Anglers should always try to record this information and obtain a scale sample when taking fish from a river. The fish scale contains the genetic coding of that particular species as well as other biological data. This simple task can provide information to agencies and universities involved in genetic studies and population recoveries.

Make it a family project to check out your local hatchery or the hatcheries on the rivers and streams you frequent. Many of the hatcheries can be found on the internet. Rowdy Creek now has a site, www.rowdycreek.com and DFG has a site as well. Make plans for a day trip to visit a hatchery with your children. Volunteer your time. Report valuable information about your catches. Learn what you can do to preserve and protect the fisheries you love.

Columnist Joan Carter co-owns, with her husband, Dan Carter's Guide Service.