Friday August 21, 2026
Source ONE —
Hundreds of prehistoric-looking Pacific lamprey are being captured at a Grant County dam and transported by truck farther up the Columbia River as part of an ongoing effort to help restore the native fish.
The unusual operation has been taking place at Priest Rapids Dam, where Grant PUD traps adult Pacific lamprey as they migrate upstream from the Pacific Ocean.
The fish are then transported past Columbia River dams and released farther upstream, giving them access to spawning areas they are trying to reach.
Data compiled by Columbia River DART, a University of Washington program that tracks fish passage throughout the Columbia Basin, shows Grant PUD trapped 505 adult Pacific lamprey at Priest Rapids Dam in 2025. Of those, 113 were transported and released upstream of Rock Island Dam while another 392 were taken upstream of Wells Dam.
That followed even larger operations in the previous two years.
Grant PUD trapped 860 lamprey in 2024, with all of those fish ultimately transported upstream of Wells Dam. In 2023, the utility trapped 1,591, with 577 released above Rock Island Dam and another 1,014 transported above Wells Dam.