Escapement is the total number of adult fish returning to a hatchery or stream to spawn. All numbers reported here represent preliminary estimates only.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) In-Season Hatchery Escapement Report is posted weekly, usually each Thursday. It is a cumulative, or season-to-date, estimate of numbers of fish returning to hatchery facilities and other designated sites within Washington.The Escapement Report calculates how many fish return to hatchery racks or traps in rivers and streams during the spawning activity cycle beginning in approximately March of each year and ending in approximately March of the following year.
The information is generated from FishBooks, an internal WDFW online hatchery data application, and from reports received weekly from non-WDFW facilities.
The weekly report provides information on arrival and run timing, numbers returning to hatcheries and their distribution, and how many fertilized eggs were collected from those fish.
2024 Weekly reports
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Definitions
Adult Total: Number of full-sized sexually mature fish handled at the facility.
Broodstock: Mature fish collected by all hatchery programs to spawn the next generation of fish.
Facility: Location where fish are held. Most facility names are abbreviated to match standard names used for data sharing through the Pacific Salmon Commission.
Fish hatcheries: Support recreational, commercial, and tribal fisheries. In some areas where fish populations are seriously threatened, specialized recovery hatchery programs can help advance conservation goals or support reintroduction to areas where there have been barriers to fish passage.
Integrated hatchery programs: Programs that collect and spawn wild fish as part of the hatchery broodstock to incorporate local genetics from fish native to that river system.
Jack Total: Number of sexually mature male fish that return at a very small size. Coho and Chinook salmon produce the largest numbers of jacks.
Adult and jack total do not include live spawned fish as they are retained or returned to stream. Also, total does not represent total run to any given river or hatchery due to the presence of wild and hatchery stocks that may spawn below the hatchery rack; may die, or be harvested below the hatchery via sport, commercial, or tribal fisheries. This column also does not include fish that pass the trap/rack when it’s not in use, such as a temporary weir or fish collection facilities only used intermittently.
Lethal Spawned: Total adults and jacks lethal spawned.
Live Spawned: Total adults and jacks live spawned.
Live Shipped: Estimate of adults and jacks shipped to a WDFW facility or an external facility
On Hand Adults: Estimate of live adults currently at the facility.
On Hand Jacks: Estimate of live jacks currently at the facility.
Released: Estimate of adults and jacks released or returned to the stream; either upstream or downstream. This includes estimates of fish that escaped upstream during high water or other rack/trap malfunction, and fish planted.
Mortality: Total adult and jack mortalities- these are fish that died naturally.
Segregated hatchery programs: Use only hatchery fish as broodstock to produce smolts year after year, often to maintain specific run timing or characteristics.
Surplus: Surplus hatchery fish are the number of adult or jack hatchery-origin fish collected at a hatchery facility above hatchery need. Hatchery needs include broodstock collection or fish released into the basin for reintroduction, harvest, or other purposes such as demographic replacement in areas where there are integrated hatchery programs. Learn more about surplus hatchery fish.
Stock-BO: The assumed or known stock and origin of the fish returning to that river or stream. Brood origin (BO) can be assumed hatchery (H), wild (W), or unknown (U). For eggs, the origin can be mixed (M) when parents were hatchery and wild fish mixed, or integrated H and W origin.
Total Eggtake: Estimated eggs taken to-date during spawning activities.
Surplus hatchery fish
What are surplus hatchery fish?
Surplus hatchery fish are adult or jack hatchery-origin fish that return to hatcheries in greater numbers than needed for broodstock or other purposes. These fish are often salmon or steelhead from state, federal, or tribal hatcheries. Surpluses can occur when environmental conditions support higher survival rates, fish escape harvest, or when fishing regulations to protect wild salmon and steelhead limit harvest opportunities.
Surplus hatchery fish removal
As part of the federal permits required to operate hatcheries, WDFW is obligated to limit the number of adult hatchery-origin fish that escape to the spawning grounds. Removing these fish helps to limit interactions between hatchery fish with wild fish, preserving genetic diversity, and reducing competition for space and resources among wild fish.
WDFW removes excess hatchery fish through adult fish collection facilities (AFCs) like weirs, traps, and ladders. Once collected, surplus fish serve a variety of purposes. Many are donated to food banks, used for nutrient enhancement in watersheds, or sold to a contractor. If natural-origin fish are collected, they are typically passed upstream of the ACF sites or returned to the river to spawn in the wild. In certain cases, where hatchery plans or recovery goals call for “integrated broodstock,” some natural-origin fish are incorporated into the hatchery broodstock.
Revenue from surplus fish sales fund the Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group (RFEG) program, which lead community-driven salmon recovery projects across Washington. Through partnerships with local, tribal, and federal agencies, these groups contribute to habitat restoration, monitoring, and education initiatives essential for maintaining healthy fish populations.