11/04/09

KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) _ The State Department of Fish and Game says
833 sockeye salmon have returned to central Idaho this year, the
most fish since the runs began to be tracked in 1985.

Dan Baker, the department's Eagle Fish Hatchery manager, tells
the Idaho Mountain Express that eggs harvested from some of the
fish will be raised in hatcheries.

Other adult sockeye this fall were released into Redfish Lake
and other lakes in the area to spawn naturally.

Sockeye were the first Idaho salmon listed under the Endangered
Species Act, and the federal government started a captive breeding
program in the 1990s.

Baker says that program is moving in the right direction.
___

Information from: Idaho Mountain Express,
http://www.mtexpress.com

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APNP-11-04-09 1136MST<