Hanker - Are you sure they were referring to spring Chinook? Fall Chinook might be more reasonable.

An additional 1M springers is a huge increase, particularly since they have to keep spring Chinook on station for 18 months. They are released as yearlings (6-8 inches). I’m not sure they have space and water for an extra 1M springers. And spring Chinook are not a major prey item for SRKW.

Conversely, raising an extra 1M fall Chinook is easy and cheap. Fall Chinook don’t spend much time in the hatchery before they are released as sub-yearlings (3-4 inches). The juveniles hatch in February and March. They are released a few weeks later in April and May. So the feed costs are minimal compared to spring Chinook, which they have to feed for a whole year. Plus, since fall Chinook are much smaller at release, the densities in the hatchery can be quite high without running into fish disease problems. So they can raise and release millions of fall Chinook for pennies, as compared to springers.

Plus, SRKW feed extensively on fall Chinook all along the WA and BC coast. And fall Chinook contribute to the major recreational fishery off the Washington Coast, and return to the Kalama Rv in huge numbers every year. Last year, they got 10,000+ adults back to the Kalama. WDFW only uses about 2000 for broodstock. So it would be easy for WDFW to take extra eggs for additional fall Chinook releases for SRKW.