The number of endangered sockeye salmon making it to central Idaho from the ocean this year is one of the worst returns in the last decade, with only 43 fish so far.
But state wildlife managers said Tuesday a hatchery program intended to prevent the species from going extinct allowed the release earlier this month of over a thousand sockeye into Redfish and Pettit lakes to spawn naturally.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game in August also started an emergency trap-and-truck operation at Lower Granite Dam in Washington due to overly warm rivers and captured 201 fish. The agency brought the fish to its hatchery in southwestern Idaho.
