Seattle Water Department, part of Seattle Public Utilities, paid for the Cedar River hatchery. It is funded by Water Department customers, not taxpayers.

A lot has changed in Lake Washington since the decision was made to construct a sockeye hatchery. The assemblage of predators on sockeye fry limits smolt production to less than it used to be. And the ocean conditions that are limiting productivity and survival of other salmon species has reached sockeye as well, based on the lower return of Baker sockeye this year. Lake Washington sockeye are derived from the Baker population, so they are the same stock. The Baker has enjoyed exceptionally good adult returns since 2010, after the new juvenile fish passage system was installed. But this year's return was forecast at around 14,000.

The upshot is that Lake Washington sockeye need to be re-evaluated in terms of contemporary productivity, capacity, and diversity parameters. The 360,000 spawning escapement goal dates to the late 1960s. It was flawed then, and remains so to this day.