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Groups Offer Reward in Fish Heist by Associated Press Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 15, 2006

LEAVENWORTH -- Two conservation groups have offered a $1,000 reward for information in the theft of 200 adult spring Chinook salmon from the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery.

The theft occurred sometime during the evening of June 9. Each fish weighed an average of 15 pounds, making the total heist about 3,000 pounds of fish.

"We hope the reward will be instrumental in identifying the culprits involved and that appropriate legal action will soon follow," Jeff Johnson, president of the non-profit Friends of Northwest Hatcheries, said in a statement Friday.

"This loss is devastating to our local community."

Friends of Northwest Hatcheries and the Icicle Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited offered the reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the people involved.

After the theft, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife temporarily closed recreational and tribal fishing on Icicle Creek, northwest of Wenatchee.

The fisheries were reopened June 22 after the hatchery received 1,100 adult Chinook salmon and collected enough eggs for its production goal of 1.625 million smolts. The season runs until July 31.

Related Pages:
Groups Offer Reward in Salmon Heist Statesman Journal, July 2, 2006