The sockeye are not native but most of them are wild. These fish have actually spread through the Lake Washingon system and even go into Lake Samamish. About 95% of them, however, head up the Cedar.

On the Cedar there is a temperary hatchery. It actually is used for sorting out fish for the fish ladder at the dam. Chinook, coho, and steelhead are allowed to continue above the dam to spawn while sockeye are released down river due to the fact that there are too many of them. They would post a threat to the drinking water quality. The current production of the hatchery is 17 million fry per year (less than 25% of the overall population).

They want to upgrade the hatchery to a permenant hatchery that is capable of an output of 34 million fry per year along with the wild fish output. That would mean a sockeye season every year and billions of $$$ for the local economy. The only reason that the new hatchery has not been made is that there a a few groups that apose it, such as Washington Trout.