Project Titles:

• Replace Walkways on Lower Raceways (FFS #R1PN)
• Rehabilitate Electric Anesthetic (FFS #R1QD)

State: Washington

Project Description: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior, has overseen the completion of two facility improvement projects at the Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The projects were completed using $129,664 in ARRA funding.

Smith-Root, Inc., rehabilitated the electrical anesthetic unit at the hatchery spawning building, and Five Rivers Construction, Inc., performed safety upgrades by replacing the lower walkways.

“The use of electro-anesthesia has dramatically improved our sorting and spawning of adult spring Chinook and upriver bright fall Chinook,” Little White Salmon Hatchery Manager Speros Doulos. “This new system induces anesthesia without the use of drugs or chemicals, allowing human consumption or release back into the environment.”

The efficiency of the new electrical anesthetic unit has produced a surplus in fish production at Little White Salmon. As a result the Fishery can now better meet its Endangered Species Act (ESA) goal of releasing protected fish unharmed into the Little Salmon River.

“Surplus adult hatchery fish can also be donated to food banks, or to Native American tribes for ceremonial use,” Doulos said. “As an example, more than 12,000 fall Chinook were donated to the Yakama Nation and Northwest Harvest Food Bank in the fall of 2010. Our new electro-anesthesia unit played a significant role in the volume of those donations.”

The old concrete walkways were narrow and posed an employee workplace safety issue, becoming slick when wet or covered with residual fish food. The new walkways are covered with steel bar grating and stair treads to improve traction and provide a safer employee work environment.

Photos:

Workers install the new lift basket on the electrical anesthetic unit.

A hatchery worker walks one of the new raceway walkways.

Recovery Act funding will improve walkways along fish raceways at Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery, providing safer footing for workers.

Work to install the electro-anesthesia lift basket.

Fishery staff using the new electro-anesthetic unit.

Originally posted 08/20/2009
Updated 07/08/2010
Updated 01/24/2011
Page Completed 04/12/2011