By Sue Ryan
News staff writer
May 18, 2007

Cascade Fish Hatchery stopped using tainted fish food last week as part of a statewide finding of melamine contamination at state-run hatcheries.

The facility is near Eagle Creek, about one mile from the town of Cascade Locks. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife manages the hatchery, which was one of 26 operations that had the tainted feed.

Hatchery manager Mark Traynor said that although 5,236 pounds of BioVita Starter was fed to five million fingerling coho salmon, there appear to be no adverse effects so far.

“We can not contribute any loss to melamine,” he said. “Fish are checked by pathology once a month and they haven’t counted any losses due to it.”

The starter feed was used from two separate lots received on Feb. 8. One lot was for the earliest stage of fish development known as “ponding” and was last fed May 3. The second lot was for the next stage of development and was last fed on May 9.

ODFW learned of the recall from the supplier, Skretting Canada, on May 8. Manufacturers use melamine in plastics and pesticides. The chemical is not approved for use in pet or human food in the United States. It is the same chemical that prompted a recent pet food recall.

According to ODFW, the chemical was found in wheat gluten from a China supplier to Skretting. Department spokesman Rick Hargrave said that because of the chemical’s water-based solubility, it appeared to be passing right through the fishes’ systems. In pets that ate affected food, the melamine caused kidney damage.

Traynor emphasized that in addition to pulling the feed immediately, the hatchery did an inventory of all feed onsite.

“The agency wanted a clear picture of all feed here,” he said.

The hatchery raises solely coho salmon for release to the Columbia River. It takes two years for the fingerlings to swim to the Pacific and return as juveniles.

The hatchery plans to distribute the fish starting in June when 500,000 will be sent to Bonneville Hatchery. The majority of the remaining fish go to the Yakama Nation and Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation between December and March.