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Smith said he hopes to see “responsible water management” where state officials prioritize river flows for fish, as well as efforts to restore floodplains and improve hatchery operations.

It continued when they were hauled about 50 miles north to a hatchery in Fillmore, where they hung out until 266 of them made it to Arroyo Hondo the following month.

For decades, government-run hatcheries in the Central Valley have reared and released millions of salmon each year to help boost their numbers.

In October, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife constructed a series of nests along the 12-mile stretch of gravel riverbed and then filled them with fertilized Chinook salmon eggs from a nearby hatchery.

They’ll need to be transferred into hatchery trucks outfitted with large tanks.