TOURS

FISH offers tours of the hatchery for free (although donations are gladly accepted!) for groups of 10 or more when the salmon arrive in Issaquah to spawn throughout the fall, from mid-September through mid-November.

Tour times are 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. FISH offers tours for smaller groups in the later afternoon (from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.) once a week. While generally weekend tours are not scheduled, trained docents are onsite during weekend daylight hours to provide unscheduled tours to visitors.

Tours must be scheduled ahead of time -- we cannot accommodate groups that show up without a reservation! Please check the calendar for available tour times at www.localendar.com/public/FISHTOURS during the fall.

FISH will make every best effort to accommodate your group, however, we cannot change reservations within three (3) business days of a scheduled tour. If you must change your tour time, please do so at least three (3) days before-hand. If you cannot make a scheduled tour and it is within three (3) days of the reservation, please immediately call 425-392-8025 to leave a message to let us know that your group will not be coming. We appreciate this information in order to respect the time of our valuable volunteers, many of whom take time off from work to come lead tours at the hatchery. We are thankful for our wonderful team of docents who make this experience possible for the thousands who take our tours annually. If, once you cancel your tour and you'd like to reschedule it for a later date (and that date is at least three (3) days after the originally scheduled date), please check for availability and we will try to accommodate your group.

HOW TO SCHEDULE A TOUR:

1. Check calendar for availability at www.localendar.com/public/FISHTOURS

Tours may be scheduled for groups of 10 to 60 people per hour, with no more than 60 people (total) per hour. If you see that 20 students are already scheduled for a time slot, this means that we can only take 40 more in that time slot.

2. When you see a date & time that works for you, send an e-mail to celina@issaquahfish.org, with the following information (this is very important to facilitate the scheduling process):

• Number of students/people
• Age (grade) of students
• School name
• Contact name
• Contact e-mail address
• Contact phone number
• Date and time you would like (and alternates)
• A good time to reach you

3. Wait for confirmation of your tour -- we will aim to get back to you within 24 hours (Monday through Friday) to let you know if your tour has been scheduled. If you do not hear from us within a couple of days, please contact us again. Your tour has not been scheduled until you have heard back from us.

Still have questions? See our Tour FAQs for additional information.

Please note: Safety is a main concern for a hatchery visit – for the students, teachers, parents and the salmon. Here are some helpful tips to consider when visiting the Issaquah Hatchery:

• The grounds are often extremely slippery, even when it is not raining and/or snowing. Also, because of the constant use of water, spillage can occur in all areas of the hatchery, which makes the grounds very slick.
• Please walk (don’t run) in all areas of the hatchery and wear appropriate shoes.
• Most of your visit will take place outside, so please dress for the weather.
• Stay out of areas that are for employees-only – some areas pose a drowning hazard or a risk of exposure to harmful chemicals.
• Please keep a safe distance from open pools of water, working machinery and egg incubation rooms.
• Please do not touch the salmon! If a salmon jumps out of a holding tank, notify a hatchery staff member or docent to return it to the tank. Salmon have very sharp teeth, and a bite from a salmon can be toxic. 
• Help the salmon stay healthy by refraining from throwing objects into the ponds unless feeding is allowed by a staff member or docent.
• Please remember that many students are using the hatchery in the fall and it can become quite crowded. Students should stay close to their tour leaders and chaperones.
• If your group is planning to have lunch during your visit, we request that you please go across Newport Way to the sheltered area for your meal instead of staying on the hatchery grounds. The hatchery gets very crowded with tours and other visitors and there are no covered picnic areas, so lunching on the grounds is not recommended.
• FISH docents are volunteers and are donating their time; please treat them with respect.
• Chaperones and teachers, not the docents, are responsible for their students; please keep an eye on your students and keep them from straying or from any inappropriate behavior.
• Parents and teachers: Please refrain from smoking or using inappropriate language on the hatchery grounds.

Suggestions for teachers before leaving school:

• Make sure you have enough chaperones for your students. Tours are split into groups of 10, so there should be at least one chaperone for every 10 students.
• Mention any special medical (or behavioral) needs of the students to the chaperones before leaving for the field trip.
• Students should visit the restrooms before they leave (there are only two public bathrooms at the hatchery and lines can become quite long).
• Students should have a coat before leaving for the hatchery.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation and look forward to seeing you at the hatchery!

When tours are not available, the hatchery is still accessible, with lots of interesting hands-on educational exhibits to explore. We also have self-guided tour brochures available in the aquarium viewing room, located at the front central part of the main hatchery building --the long building with the green roof -- which is open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

PHOTO/VIDEO NOTIFICATION – The Issaquah Salmon Hatchery is a public facility where photos, videos and other media might be taken of individuals visiting the hatchery. At times FISH takes photos of visitors to use for publicity purposes (on our Website, in pamphlets, etc.) If  you wish to not have your picture taken during a visit, please let the photographer know at the time of your visit.

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