More Than 10 Million Chinook Salmon Raised at Feather River Hatchery This Season

Spawning season has wrapped up at the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville, and the numbers point to a major production year for Chinook salmon as state agencies work to counter ongoing declines across the Central Valley.

Hatchery staff collected enough eggs this season to meet their full annual goal of producing 2 million spring-run Chinook fingerlings and 6 million fall-run fingerlings. Beyond that, additional eggs were taken to significantly increase output. In total, the hatchery plans to raise an extra 1 million spring-run fingerlings, 2.5 million fall-run unfed fry, and another 1 million fall-run fingerlings destined to support ocean fisheries.

The process begins when adult Chinook return to the Feather River, where eggs from females are fertilized with milt from males during controlled spawning. Those fertilized eggs are then placed in incubators for roughly 85 days before hatching. Once the fish reach the fry stage and begin feeding, they are either released directly into the Feather River or moved into raceways—long rearing ponds—where they continue growing into fingerlings.

Between March and June, millions of young Chinook raised at the facility will be released into the Feather River and San Francisco Bay, helping replenish both inland and ocean salmon populations. Hatchery crews also continued thiamine treatments throughout spawning and rearing to combat vitamin B1 deficiencies, improving survival rates from egg to juvenile.

Built in the late 1960s to offset migration impacts caused by Oroville Dam, the Feather River Fish Hatchery remains one of the largest Chinook production facilities in California, playing a critical role in the state’s salmon recovery efforts.