Seattle Times staff reporter (reprinted with permission)

This summer's Lake Washington sockeye sport fishery came as a sweet surprise to state Fish and Wildlife biologists, and to anglers, too.

Because the preseason estimate called for about 190,000 sockeye to return, very few expected one of the most unique urban freshwater salmon fisheries in the United States to actually happen.

To have any type of fishery, more than 350,000 sockeye must enter the lake to meet the spawning escapement goal.

The preseason figure was based on the number of fry (juvenile fish) entering the lake in 1999 from the Cedar and Sammamish rivers and tributaries; plus the assumed survival rates in the lake and ocean.

This year's return of about 410,000 sockeye to the Lake Washington watershed included 80,000 to 100,000 fish that began their lives in a temporary hatchery located on the Cedar River about 22 miles above Lake Washington. Built in 1991 to maintain hatchery sockeye production, the facility has produced about 17 million juvenile fish yearly.

While the sport fishery lasted only from July 26-28, about 36,000 sockeye were caught, and catch rates were better than 1½ fish per boat during each day, with many anglers catching their two-fish daily limit fairly easily.

"It surprised the heck out of us that we even got a fishery on the lake this year after preseason estimates indicated that we were far from the escapement goal," said Dick Geist, a state Fish and Wildlife fish manager.

Many salmon runs that return to Puget Sound are driven by hatchery production, and without it there would be very
few salmon available for harvest by any type of fishery.

Back in mid-July, when the season was announced, Frank Urabeck, a member of the state Fish and Wildlife
sportfishing advisory council and sportfishing director for the Northwest Marine Trade Association, indicated about 20 to 30 percent were produced in the temporary hatchery.

During this past summer's sockeye fishery on the lake, state Fish and Wildlife biologists collected heads of sockeye caught by sport anglers, and found 25 percent had originated from the temporary hatchery.

"I used my best judgment in trying to figure out how many had come from the hatchery and it looks like I wasn't too far off," Urabeck said. "The importance of the (temporary) hatchery and a planned permanent hatchery in the future will allow us to keep this fishery alive for years to come."

In 1999, the City of Seattle planned to include a new federally approved permanent hatchery on the Cedar River, which would be able to produce 34 million juvenile sockeye per year, twice the number the temporary hatchery produces.

The decision to build the permanent hatchery facility — expected to be completed by 2005 — has moved into the final stages.

Opponents such as Washington Trout are seeking to block the hatchery facility. Washington Trout is the same
organization that recently sued the National Marine Fisheries Service in regard to Puget Sound salmon management, chinook hatchery production and a no fishery option in Puget Sound.

An environmental draft impact statement was released last month. Public comments, postmarked by Oct. 23, can be sent to the Cedar River Sockeye Hatchery Environmental Impact Statement Comments, Cindy Holtz, Seattle Public Utilities, Key Tower, 700 Fifth Ave., Suite 4900, Seattle, WA. 98104.

Scheduled public hearings: Oct. 16, at the Seattle Center House, Conference Room A-305, 6 to 9:30 p.m.; and Oct. 17, at the Renton Technical College Convention Building, Room H-102, 3000 N.E. Fourth St.

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