Endangered salmon released into the Sacramento River

Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight Workers at the Livingston Stone Fish Hatchery near Shasta Dam get juvenile salmon ready to be released into the Sacramento River on Wednesday.

Damon Arthur/Record Searchlight U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials load up fingerling salmon to release into the Sacramento River in Redding.

Federal officials are releasing endangered winter-run chinook salmon into the Sacramento River tonight in Redding.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is planting nearly twice as many as they usually do to make up for the massive die off of the fish that has occurred over the past couple years.

John Rueth, assistant hatchery manager at the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery at Shasta Dam, said there is more at stake this year because of the high numbers of young fish that have died in the past couple years.

“This is the second year we have had a bad year with the fish,” Rueth said. “If we have a third year, we could see real bad numbers with the fish. It’s going to put a big hit in how fast the fish recover.

About 97 percent of the young winter-run salmon, which either spawn in the Sacramento River or are raised in the hatchery, died before they reached Red Bluff on their way to the ocean.

Written by: Redding.com

Source: http://www.redding.com/news/local/Endangered-salmon-released-into-the-Sacramento-River-369198351.html