This my first time visiting a fish hatchery. The entire hatchery is very special place for maintaining healthy fish population and also critical for future sustainable fish harvest. We saw some very very tiny fish and big ones today.
We met with David Wolf, the President of Native American Fish and Wildlife Society. Their website is www.nafws.org. We got to learn and understand how his organization and Oregon Fish and Wildlife with local tribe work together.
Fish eggs are hatched inside the trays shown in picture below. Water temperature is one of the major factors affecting the health and survivability of the eggs.
As the fish get larger, they are moved to larger tanks. The millions of fish are hatched in this facility then release back to the wild. Only very tiny percentage of the released will return and lay eggs in they birth place. It’s amazing!
The tour of Bonneville Dam started with US Army Corps of Engineers. It was very cool. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. Now, we know the origin of that saying “Balls to the walls.”
I always wondered how fish get around the dam. Finally, I saw it with my eyes. It is the fish ladder on the side of a dam shown in picture below. We saw the underwater view of fish ladder. I am so impressed with US Army Corps of Engineers.
Meet lamprey. They are the ugliest fish in this trip. I learned that they are the only fish capable to climb up water falls. I can believe how ugly they are up close. They are also users of fish ladder.
The dam tour ended with over view of the power generator underneath the dam. I can’t believe how much electricity generated by each turbo. No wonder the electricity is cheap in Oregon.
