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[glfish88]

A friend of mine (doesn't have a FWR Acc) wants to know if spawning chums that are legally caught and putting the fry in his aquarium (he has a pretty big one) or pond is legal at all, I had no idea so my first instinct was asking here...so is it legal?

[Fish Assassin]

No

[Every Day]

If somehow, you could get the fish to your house without transporting it live between the river and your house, then the answer would be yes.

It is illegal to transport any live fish in B.C. This means any trout or salmon (or bass/pumpkinseed,etc) you catch at the river/lake are not legally allowed to be kept alive and transported to a tank/pond at your home. In your friends case, it is illegal to have baby chum, that he brought from the river, in his possession. The main goal of this rule is to stop illegal stockings of waterways.

That being said, if you bought these fish from a farm (and had permits), it would be legal. Private outfits will sell to people that have approval from the ministry to stock their pond (no chance of escape, adequate water conditions/supplies). I doubt they would sell to you to stock your tank, although places like Cabela's have them, so maybe it's possible.

[RalphH]

It's a subject that needs to be looked into more deeply but best I know the Federal Government controls commercial species (the 5 salmon) and the Province requires licenses to both transport and keep native freshwater species. DFO basically keeps a tight lid on the salmon since the topic is chum. The only fish you can keep at home are aquarium hobbyist fish acquired from a vendor who has a permit to sell them.

Also want to note under BC Anglers regs (consult the synopsis) you can't keep live fish - fish can't be retained in live wells etc.

[Ambassador]

Legal questions aside - let me see if I have this right. He wants to bring home spawning chum that he legally caught (obviously at least one buck and doe needed), hopes to get them to successfully spawn on his property, then keep the fry in an aquarium?

Not a fisheries biologist, but my guess is he would need quite the setup to successfully spawn the chum and bring the eggs to fry stage. Then the freshwater to saltwater transition for the fry as they would naturally migrate to salt water upon their hatching...

[Tylsie]

Legal questions aside - let me see if I have this right. He wants to bring home spawning chum that he legally caught (obviously at least one buck and doe needed), hopes to get them to successfully spawn on his property, then keep the fry in an aquarium?

Not a fisheries biologist, but my guess is he would need quite the setup to successfully spawn the chum and bring the eggs to fry stage. Then the freshwater to saltwater transition for the fry as they would naturally migrate to salt water upon their hatching...

Legally, it is not allowed. But in reality it would be quite easy if you were prepared. You would need nothing more than a quality aquarium with strong flow filter and a chiller unit (the water should be kept under 10 Celsius) and proper gravel. While at the river, collect the eggs and milt return home. Once there you could fertilize the eggs, place them in the gravel hollow and cover accordingly. That is a brief overview, but I don't want to give step by step.  It is actually quite common for hatcheries to do this among themselves. Even if you did everything perfect your survival rate would probably not be very low, my guess is around 2-5% if you are lucky, where as hatcheries strive for 90% using heath trays. The transition would be up to the fish, but as long as it was strong when released it should be OK.

[firstlight]

They have been doing this in classrooms for years.
It can be done if you want to jump through enough hoops im sure.

[bkk]

Not legal to do unless you jump thru all of the hoops first. Some of the things you need to do this legally are:

Aquaculture licence from DFO
Fish Health Management Plan licence from DFO - How are you going to manage these fish for disease prevention?
Intergrated Fisheries Management Plan from DFO - This covers the release of the fish you raise and how it fits into the overall objectives for the area you are working in.
Transplant Commitee approvel from DFO / Province - Where are the fish comming from and where are they going to? Are there any disease concerns with this stock of fish?
Approvel from the local DFO Community Advisor - Why are we doing this project? What are the objectives?

The likelyhood that you would get approvel to do this just because you think it would be cool to do are virtually non - existent. Community groups do this type of work all of the time but there is a process to follow first.

One of the main intent of these regs is to prevent the armchair biologists from just doing what they want because they think they know best. That is one of the reasons we have bass is so many places where they do not belong.

[Ezio]

and then there is the cost of setting up an aquarium that is the adequate size (300 gallons plus)  Plus the water chiller to cool over 400 gallons of water with the sump filtration system required to keep the aquarium water oxygenated, and control the massive bioload.    good chance you would be looking at spending well over $3500 alone just to set up an aquarium or pond just to keep a few salmon till they eventually die in a few months due to an inadequate diet etc.   

[CohoMan]

You can do whatever you want as long as you don't get caught....

[firstlight]

and then there is the cost of setting up an aquarium that is the adequate size (300 gallons plus)  Plus the water chiller to cool over 400 gallons of water with the sump filtration system required to keep the aquarium water oxygenated, and control the massive bioload.    good chance you would be looking at spending well over $3500 alone just to set up an aquarium or pond just to keep a few salmon till they eventually die in a few months due to an inadequate diet etc.

Schools usually use a 30 gallon tank.

[Burbot]

It may not be legal but if you do it keep your mouth shut then you won't get caught.  The DFO or provincial ministry will have as much luck busting you as they have with the bucket brigade and their illegal stockings.