An Oregon man was arrested this week, accused of breaking into a Reedsport, Oregon, hatchery and pouring bleach into a rearing pond that killed 17,890 young Chinook salmon.
The targeted Gardiner, Reedsport, Winchester Bay hatchery is part of Oregon’s volunteer Salmon Trout Enhancement Program and hosts four such tanks. The fish killed were intended for release into the lower Umpqua River, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a release Thursday.
Once grown, the survivors would have numbered 200 to 400 available to be fished, the hatchery said in a Facebook post.
Law enforcement was made aware of the break-in to the hatchery and the tank poisoning on Monday. Joshua Heckathorn, 20, is accused of breaking in and pouring the bleach, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.
On Tuesday, a sheriff’s deputy spotted Mr. Heckathorn back at the hatchery behind a locked gate and a “no trespassing” sign. The suspect admitted to breaking in and handling the bleach the day prior, the sheriff’s office said.
Mr. Heckathorn was then arrested.
He is charged with second-degree burglary, the unlawful taking of Chinook salmon and first-degree criminal mischief, all felonies, as well as criminal trespass and making a toxic substance available to wildlife, both misdemeanors, according to state wildlife officials and the sheriff’s office. The Chinook is the largest and most highly valued species of Pacific salmon.
If convicted, Mr. Heckathorn could face up to five years in prison and millions of dollars in fines.
“The killing of these fish is a real blow to the STEP program volunteers, ODFW, fishermen and the community as a whole. In my 25 years as a game warden, this is one of the most senseless acts I have seen,” Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Levi Harris said in a statement.
Deborah Yates, president of the hatchery’s STEP program, was also stunned by the poisoning, saying in a statement, “You get attached to those fish. When nature does something, it’s crushing. But it’s nature and it happens. But when someone comes in and does something like this, you can’t wrap your head around it. We have so many hours wrapped up in those fish, to have someone come in so cavalier and kill them, it doesn’t make sense.”
Ms. Yates told Portland Fox affiliate KPTV that the poisoning is “being considered the biggest poaching incident in Oregon history, I think.”
The roughly 60,000 fish in the three remaining tanks at the hatchery will be released into Oregon’s Winchester Bay later this spring, the hatchery wrote on Facebook.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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