Baby Salmon being devoured by predators – We’re spending millions to feed the fish!

It’s a quiet, damp Friday at the Feather River Fish Hatchery and not much is happening above the surface. The buildings where they spawn the adult salmon in the fall are all empty. Outside, two workers amble down the long concrete ponds in waders, fixing things here and there. There are no visitors except one, a journalist there to pay his last respects. Below the surface are millions of baby salmon. They fill the raceways, getting fat on free chow so that they can be released in the river any day now — and be devoured by predators. The predators are striped bass, a non-native species that lives very comfortably in the river downstream. If you read Friday’s fish report with religious fervor like I do, you’ll notice that fishing for stripers in the Feather River has been amazing recently because the hatchery is slowly releasing salmon smolt into the river. It’s like ringing a dinner bell for the stripers. Read the story here 07:50

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