GRWB STEP Redd Zone Incubators Filled with 233,000 Fall Chinook Salmon Eggs

It’s all smiles at GRWB STEP hatchery as a nearly full complement of 65 spawning pairs of Fall Chinook were collected this year.

Approximately 233,000 eggs were harvested. The best eggs take in recent years. Eggs are incubated at the Gardiner STEP facility and the ODFW hatchery on Elk River and will produce 100,000 pre-Smolt and 70,000 Smolt that will be released in Winchester Bay in the Spring and Fall of 2023.

Near the end of their mission in life, spawned out brood stock await transport to spawning streams where their bodies will provide enriching nutrients.