BOISE, Idaho -- Idaho had been celebrating robust sockeye salmon returns to Redfish Lake in central Idaho, but wildlife managers say more than 40,000 sockeye destined for the state's breeding program died while at an Oregon hatchery last month. The Department of Fish and Game says a damaged valve at the Oxbow Fish Hatchery, located in Cascade Locks, Ore., is the culprit in the deaths. On August 25, hatchery workers noticed fish numbers in an outdoor raceway were just over half what they should have been. They discovered the sockeye had been drawn through the damaged valve into a void under the raceway. The fish had numbered 94,826, but after the raceway valve problem, the inventory was 51,609 -- a loss of about 45 percent. The loss will affect the number of adult fish in the agency's captive brood-stock program in 2012 to 2014.
