Hatchery named for ex-tribal chief

TULALIP INDIAN RESERVATION - The Tulalip Tribes' salmon hatchery will be renamed the Bernie Kai-Kai Gobin Hatchery, honoring the former tribal chairman who helped create the successful fish-rearing operation. The ceremony will take place tomorrow.

The hatchery was launched in 1982 with three swimming pools and buckets of salmon eggs. Since then, the tribes have raised and released nearly 200 million chinook, coho and chum salmon.

The hatchery is a state-of-the-art facility today.

Gobin, 69, will be honored with a noon luncheon and ceremony at the Tulalip Tribal Gym. Local and regional officials are expected to attend, including Billy Frank Jr., executive director of the Northwest Indian Fish Commission.