Just in from John Casteel

Jennie@ifish · 10-05-2001, 02:41 PM

This is concerning what we did volunteer wise last year.
You can read this, contact the people below, or we can form an ifish work group and try to be on call.
It might help to collectively decide on which hatchery we would like to try for. The short notice thing is a real hangup to a planned get together. You would have to be 'on call'. I'm going to be there for them, are you???
I think it would be great fun to get together as a group, get to know one another AND help out our fisheries at the same time. This is a great chance to help out!!! Please-- as many as possible of you are needed!
I will be taking a volunteer list to present to them. If you are interested, please e mail Jennie with "volunteer" in the headlines. captain@ifish.net

Thanks, and I'll forward the message here.
----

A component of the Oregon Plan is to place salmon and steelhead carcasses into local streams to enhance stream productivity. We are expecting good returns this year and have allocated large numbers of fish for the program. The predicted returns for coho alone are, 11,000 for Nehalem Hatchery and 30,000 for Trask Hatchery. The coho will have to be handled in October/November, the exact timing will be dependent on migration timing. We may also have chinook from Trask and Cedar Creek hatcheries. Next February and March we will also have some steelhead available for the program.
We have allocated 1000 coho at Nehalem hatchery and 6000 coho at Trask Hatchery for the stream enrichment program. Preparation and distribution of these fish will be a major undertaking. We are looking for volunteers who can help in this process. In addition, the hatcheries are looking for help to process the fish when they arrive. The bulk of the carcasses will be given to American/Canadian Fisheries. They will process the fish and return flash frozen shrink wrapped filets to the Oregon Food Bank for distribution. American/Canadian plans to recover their cost by selling eggs and carcasses. The hatcheries still have to handle those fish before they go to American/Canadian. One task is to check for and remove any coded wire tags from the fish. The fish destined for stream enrichment require even more preparation. We need to collect tags and then cut off the heads before placement. We do extensive spawning surveys to monitor salmon populations and it is critical that these fish do not influence wild population estimates. Removing the heads enables our surveyors to identify those fish.
A major difficulty is that the fish do not have a predictable schedule and we cannot schedule work very far in advance. In fact, we often have to deal with 1 or 2 days notice. The fish processing also has to occur on weekdays when hatchery staff is available. If the fish cooperate we may be able to process some fish for stream enrichment on Friday and hold them overnight for distribution on Saturday. We do not have freezer space available to hold more than very small number of fish. This means that we have to process them fresh and deal with them immediately.
We are looking for volunteers who are willing to assist in this program and who could be available on short notice. This would involve both help at the hatchery processing fish and distributing the fish to the streams. This is a messy job and volunteers would need raingear and boots, we can provide gloves. If you are interested in becoming involved in this program please contact one of the following people.

Big Creek Hatchery
Joe Sheahan (lead contact) - joseph.e.sheahan@state.or.us; - 503-338-5840
Michele Long - michele.l.long@state.or.us; - 503-842-2741
Alan Meyer (Hatchery Manager) - BigCreek.Hatchery@state.or.us; - 503-458-6529

Nehalem Hatchery
Michele Long (lead contact) - michele.l.long@state.or.us; - 503-842-2741
Joe Watkins (Hatchery Manager) - nnhatch@nehalemtel.net; - 503-368-6828
John Casteel - john.l.casteel@state.or.us; - 503-842-2741

Trask Hatchery
John Casteel (lead contact) - john.l.casteel@state.or.us; - 503-842-2741
Norm Hammond (Act. Hatchery Manager) - TraskRiver.Hatchery@state.or.us; - 503-842-4090
Michele Long - michele.l.long@state.or.us; - 503-842-2741

Cedar Creek Hatchery
John Casteel (lead contact) - john.l.casteel@state.or.us; - 503-842-2741
Mark Trainer (Hatchery Manager) - CedarCreek.Hatchery@state.or.us - 503-392-3485
Michele Long - michele.l.long@state.or.us; -503-842-2741

Jennie@ifish · 10-06-2001, 07:24 PM

Don't everyone jump in to volunteer all at once!
Come on now, people! Let's help out!
Doesn't anyone think they can spare a little time to help out our fisheries?
I have one volunteer.
You know, I am amazed at the lack of participation sometimes.
RT did a ralley. About 12 people showed up. Not many on First Cast Wilson river clean up. Not many for the Wind cleanup. (too far for me to drive that day...)
I know, we all have excuses, but can't we show a little team spirit here?
If you are contacting them directly, that's great too. I'd just like to hear that you are.
Jen

WheresMyBobber · 10-06-2001, 08:22 PM

I've been needing to talk to one of these folks anyway, I'll be throwing my name in the hat within the next couple days. Hopefully it will work out with work schedule.

Thanks for posting this. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]