Associated Press - November 4, 2009 1:44 PM ET

KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) - The State Department of Fish and Game says 833 sockeye salmon have returned to central Idaho this year, the most fish since the runs began to be tracked in 1985.

Dan Baker, the department's Eagle Fish Hatchery manager, tells the Idaho Mountain Express that eggs harvested from some of the fish will be raised in hatcheries.

Other adult sockeye this fall were released into Redfish Lake and other lakes in the area to spawn naturally.

Sockeye were the first Idaho salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act, and the federal government started a captive breeding program in the 1990s.

Baker says that program is moving in the right direction.

Information from: Idaho Mountain Express, http://www.mtexpress.com

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