The Coos River STEP Association will release nearly 400,000 Chinook salmon to local waterways Saturday. The pre-smolts are from the Noble Creek Hatchery in Greenacres.

Coos River STEP also plans to release 100,000 pre-smolts in June, but is below its average annual output of 600,000 salmon.

The fish are the offspring of salmon spawned at the hatchery through December last year — well past the hatchery’s normal closing date, said association secretary Ray Lee.

“This year because the different hatcheries were way low, (Noble Creek) operated through December,” Lee said. “We’re 100,000 below average.”

Salmon spawned by Coos River STEP spend between two and five years in the ocean before the surviving fish return to Coos River.

Noble Creek Hatchery is located on Green Acres Road, 1.1 miles from state Highway 42. The public is invited to attend. Call association president Al Harker at 888-0536 for more information.