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[Rodney]

I shared this in the Chilliwack River updates but some may not have seen it so I'm reposting it in a separate thread. Many thanks to Alex Klingemann, the operation manager, for always taking the time to provide the numbers and facts.

As of November 4th, the hatchery has had about 20,000 coho salmon returning to it. There are still a few more thousands holding in the channel and waiting to be sorted. Once the season is completed, there will be a final number, which I suspect will be close to 30,000. This number is similar to 2020 (30,363) and 2019 (27,701).

So far, just over 10,000 fall chinook salmon have returned to the hatchery. This is almost double of the returns in 2020 (5,946) and 2019 (5,564). The main reason behind this, as mentioned in an earlier post, is the doubling of the juvenile release from 1 to 2 million fish in 2020, and these numbers include jacks. The numbers of jacks returning to the hatchery in 2019, 2020 and 2021 are 1,935, 1,944, 6,054, respectively. Next year, we should see strong fall chinook salmon returns for both adults and jacks.

The summer chinook salmon return number is fairly similar to the previous two years. This year’s return number is 2,001. Last year’s return was 2,439, and 1,455 for 2019.

Chum salmon returns, like coho salmon, are still happening until the end of December. To date, 1,785 chum salmon have made it to the hatchery. The last four years, the returns have been between 3,000 and 4,000 fish, with the exception of 2018 when 9,004 reached the hatchery.

The production target for 2021 are the followings.

Summer chinook salmon
Egg target: 550,000
Release target: 500,000
Release size: 7 - 8g

Fall chinook salmon
Egg target: 2.8 million (730,000 to Capilano Hatchery)
Release target: 2 million
Release size: 5 - 6g

Coho salmon
Egg target: 1 million
Release target: 800,000
Release size: 20g

Chum salmon
Egg target: 3 million
Release target: 2.6 million (2 million fed fry and 600,000 unfed fry)
Release size: 1g (fed fry)

Winter steelhead
Egg target: 200,000
Release target: 125,000
Release size: 80g

Keep in mind that these adult return numbers are the numbers of fish back to the hatchery, not the total run sizes for the Chilliwack/Vedder River.
All hatchery coho and steelhead are adipose clipped.

The hatchery currently remains closed to the public, but hopefully things will be back to normal next year.

I hope this gives you a better understanding on what the Chilliwack River Hatchery does. If there are other questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to either answer them or relay them to the hatchery.

[wildmanyeah]

here is the CAP update for those interested.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/23ur2lmpdkr7glw/AACwQcnMue8eGn2Nhnq5UdqXa?dl=0&preview=CapHatcherySynopsis_Nov2021.pdf

I believe the early run of coho was the largest ever recorded by the hatchery

[RalphH]

IIRC total return in those years after the hatchery first opening exceeded 50k.

Do you know what the dates are for the 3 segments; early mid and late?

[wildmanyeah]

IIRC total return in those years after the hatchery first opening exceeded 50k.

Do you know what the dates are for the 3 segments; early mid and late?

I’m not sure Ralph, it’s just what the hatchery presenter said about the early run of coho.

[Roderick]

Gotta say, the early run was the best I've seen in 15 years of regular fishing.  July 1st is the cutoff for the early run, but I don't know the mid/late date. 

[Rodney]

Gotta say, the early run was the best I've seen in 15 years of regular fishing.  July 1st is the cutoff for the early run, but I don't know the mid/late date.

What do you mean by July 1st?

The high abundance of early coho is mainly due to that early high river discharge from the rain we had in September. All of the fish pushed through the system in a few days and the hatchery had close to 1,000 from that first push. I remember the fishing was slow for days after that.

[Roderick]

I was talking about Capilano, Rodney.  Sorry for any confusion.