About 220,000 coho smolts were moved Tuesday from a freshwater hatchery at Gorst to a saltwater pen on Puget Sound near Keyport.

The Suquamish Tribe, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center-Keyport teamed up for the truck and barge operation.

The Kitsap Sun reports ( http://bit.ly/Wit3QV) the smolts will acclimate for three months and then be released. About 8,000 adult coho are expected to return to the Agate Pass area this fall.

The tribe has transferred nearly a million smolts in the past four years.

Puget Sound coho are considered a "species of concern" under the Endangered Species Act.

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Information from: Kitsap Sun, http://www.kitsapsun.com/