Baker River (Washington) year. The WDFW and others' models predicted a run size for Baker sockeye of 46,268 in 2015. Before Lower Baker Dam was built in 1925 the fish had free access to the river and natural (pre-dammed) Baker Lake. The annual sockeye run at that time was estimated to be approximately 20,000 fish. Artificial enhancement began in 1896 when the State of Washington constructed a hatchery on Baker Lake. This was the first establishment for the hatching of sockeye salmon. The hatchery closed in 1933. The construction of Upper Baker Dam in 1959 inundated the natural Baker Lake and surrounding valley,
Sockeye salmon National Marine Fisheries Service. Other sockeye populations in the upper Columbia River and in Puget Sound are not listed under the Act. Sockeye is an exception to 2010's forecast resurgence of Oregonian fish stocks. Spring Chinook, summer steelhead, and Coho are forecast to increase by up to 100% over 2008 populations. The sockeye population peaked at over 200,000 in 2008 and were forecast to decline to just over 100,000 in 2010. As an early indication of the unexpectedly high sockeye run in 2010, on July 2, 2010, the United States Army Corps of Engineers reported over 300,000 sockeye had passed