Chico ER
By Barbara Arrigoni
September 15, 2012

With spawning time near and hundreds of salmon in the river, Monday morning Department of Fish and Game staff will open up the fish ladders at the Feather River Fish Barrier Dam, off Table Mountain Boulevard.

Before then, people visiting the Dam can watch the fish hurdling into the air in an effort to get over the dam and swim upstream.

The ladders divert the salmon to the Feather River Fish Hatchery for spawning.

Fish Hatchery manager Anna Kastner said Friday water will flow to the ladders starting around 8:30 a.m. Monday. It will take an hour or longer for the water to get all the way down the ladders to the river.

“After that it will be open and available for the fish to come in,” she said.

The fish ladders have been closed since the beginning of July for cleaning and maintenance.

“Also, the fish are not ready to spawn,” Kastner added. “They do better by holding them back in the river than in the hatchery.”
No one has estimated yet how many salmon are in the river right now, but normally thousands make the trip from the Pacific Ocean and migrate up the Feather River every year.

“We’ll find out once we open the ladders, and then we’ll see how many come up,” she said.

Once the salmon get to the ladders, they’ll swim about a half mile up to the fish hatchery and wait in large tanks until they’re manually spawned.

Kastner said some salmon will be spawned Sept. 22 during the annual Oroville Salmon Festival, and a few more times over the next couple of weeks.

However, beginning Oct. 1, the spawning process will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day.

People interested in seeing the fish swim the ladders may view the salmon at the observation windows near the Fish Barrier Dam. The gates to the viewing windows will be open from 8 a.m. to sunset, according to the Fish and Game website.

The fish ladders will remain open through next June for both the fall run and spring run.

For general information, call the hatchery at 538-2222.

People can also visit the hatchery to watch the spawning process. For tour information, call 534-2306.

The annual Oroville Salmon Festival runs Friday through Sunday.

Original source