COOS BAY - It's a homecoming of sorts for tens of thousands of steelhead as they return to a local fish hatchery to prepare for their big trek through the Pacific Ocean.

The Millicoma Interpretive Center was abuzz with activity on Wednesday, as 35,000 steelhead returned to the site.

These fish are among the hundreds of thousands of steelhead, originally taken from the center as eggs last winter, so they could be raised at the Cole Rivers Hatchery near Medford.

Now, for three weeks, they'll get acclimated to the Coos River Basin and then they'll be released, heading 14,000 miles through the North Pacific Ocean.

"Their feeding grounds are actually in the Western Pacific Ocean near Russia," says ODFW Fish Biologist Tom Rumreich. "So if you look at these fish, from a year from now, they'll be almost 8,000 miles and yet will return to this very stream."

For the past 17 years, this process has improved their survival rates and helped enhance the local economy.

"These fish are an important part of the recreational fishery here within the Coos River Basin," says Rumreich. "These fish, in some cases, are worth millions of dollars to not only the economy of Coos County but Oregon as a whole."

In three weeks, they'll receive tens of thousands of salmon, where they'll do the same process, hoping to bolster their numbers.

To learn more about their efforts, you can call (541) 267-2557.