Stealing 1,000 3lb trout would take a lot of time and would make a huge mess. It is an absolute p.i.t.a. loading that sized fish out of a raceway, even when a person knows what they are doing and has access to all the crowders, nets, etc. to get the job done... I couldn't even imagine trying to steal that many.

We get a few dimbulbs that try to steal a fish or two here and there where I work. Usually not that big of a deal, and they usually don't succeed. I was woken up the other night as three people were trying to steal sturgeon out of the show pond about 70' from my bedroom window. I walked out with a spotlight and said, "What in the HELL do you think you are doing?" Their buddy in the waiting car sped off without them, leaving these dudes to tear off through the brush and into the river with no flashlights (dropped them at the sturgeon pond).
The local LE arrived with the K9 unit to make things interesting. Nothing like trying to run through the coast range in the dark with a police dog on your ass

Funny how many people don't realize that (Oregon) hatchery workers HAVE to live on station, and someone HAS to be here 24hrs a day, every day of the year...

Don't know if "on-station" living is required in WA any more. Plus, while the main hatchery might have folks at it, rearing ponds, acclamation ponds, and release ponds remote from the mother station generally don't.

Saves money not to have folks there, not to have houses, and such.

A 3,000 pound trout heist is weird. Unless the thieves had a ready restaurant(s) to take it off their hands, they probably lost money on their effort.

As far as hatchery accidents that result in fish kills, that's just part of the cost of being in the hatchery business. It doesn't matter how many redundant backup pumps, alarms, alarm dialers, and even double-redundant backup systems, you can never eliminate the possibility of a breakdown. You can only reduce the probability of such occurrences. Even with on-station employees. On station employees greatly reduces losses because alarms receive vastly faster responses than when the nearest responder lives miles away - oh, and the alarm dialer that alerts the distant responder fails at the same time as the pump.

If people understood how a well equipped hatchery is managed, they would be surprised that losses aren't more frequent.

Sg