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[Rodney]

I had a long conversation on the phone yesterday with Steve Hamilton, the president of Spruce City Wildlife Association in Prince George, because I wanted to be educated on the situation of the Upper Fraser River chinook salmon by someone who is directly involved with them.

While we here on the coast continue to talk about, and sometimes bicker over, harvest allocations, selective fisheries, angling opportunities, all of us need to sit back and look at what is going on 1,000km inland from the "battle ground".

For over a decade now, we have been talking about the decline of Upper Fraser River chinook and sockeye salmon, but just exactly how bad is it?

With an abundant return of summer chinook salmon in the Lower Fraser River, it is so easy to forget what we are quickly losing in this province.

So here is what's going on. Steve and his team of volunteers at Spruce City Wildlife Association, which was founded in 1970, with the support from Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, have been operating a small community salmon hatchery in the past several years to enhance chinook salmon returning to the tributaries of the Upper Fraser River. The word "small" might be bit of an exaggeration. Its operation is limited by the lack of fundings and the few fish they are able to find.

To date, they have collected 6 female and 10 male spawners this season. The team has spent over 500 hours looking for fish in tributaries such as the Nechako River. These Upper Fraser River tributaries are not little creeks, but their length and width are comparable to Lower Fraser River tributaries like the Chilliwack/Vedder River system. Each tributary's spawning habitat can easily accommodate tens of thousands of chinook salmon, but currently only a few dozens return to each. Some populations are now determined to be functional extinct, meaning that the populations have lost so much genetic diversity and cannot recruit themselves. This is a tragedy which majority of British Columbians are unaware of, and we are going to change that here.

Steve talked about how the hatchery is currently funded by private donors. Beside raising 25,000 eggs until the fish are ready to be released, the hatchery also runs an educational program which has put over 12,000 students through in the past three years so they can stay connected to these iconic species. Money is needed to cover overhead expenses, from keeping water flowing for the eggs, to having lights on at the facility. If you have enjoyed salmon fishing in this province, please consider a donation to the association because the recovery of these Upper Fraser River salmon populations is everyone's responsibility, regardless which sector you are in. Please go to the following link for making a donation:

http://www.scwa.bc.ca/donations

On a side note, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has not provided funds to support this program, despite of being the only salmon hatchery north of Kamloops and the urgency of recovering Upper Fraser River chinook salmon. It is beyond baffling why this department has chosen to ignore these options as part of the recovery beside fishing closures. Once again, we still have a lot of work to do.

[Dave]

I guess the question that comes to my mind is why hasn't DFO funded this program.  Public Involvement Program money is available for projects like this ... has the SCWA applied for this funding?  If so, what was the reason it was not approved?

[Rodney]

Dave, they have and the application was denied. Steve said the reason given was the concern for hatchery overlap, despite of being the only hatchery of this kind north of Kamloops.

[wildmanyeah]

Yes I saw on their FB page that they were denied funding.

I also asked about their release strategies as there has been some debate on what's best to do for stream type chinook.

they responded with

"Due to our water temperatures here, they grow slower. Therefore when we release based on the freshet- their natural cycle when they begin to swim downstream, they are roughly 9 months old as it is."

Kinda crazy that they have been denied funding.  Should just shut down the chehalis hatchery and put one up their.




One of their recent FB posts:

Hey Prince George !

We have successfully taken our allowance for brood stock-giving us a total of just over 25 000 eggs for your endangered and threatened stocks in the upper Fraser watershed.

Although this number seems like a lot- it represents the eggs from 6 females from the Endako, and Nechako River.

The hardest part is yet to come- this is going to cost money, something us as a volunteer run non-profit does not have a lot of. We do not receive any funding from the provincial or federal governments for this.

We have once again put in well over 500 hours of volunteer time, and funds to ensure these runs once again have their best chance at survival.

So we are turning to you, the community and surrounding areas of Prince George, and throughout the Province.

You have been so incredibly supportive of our posts, with the likes, loves, comments and shares- we appreciate every single one of them.

We are calling on you to donate what you can- every single dollar helps us keep the lights on and that water flowing over the eggs of our salmon.

Your salmon.

We have put over 12000 children through our facility over the last three years, all completely free. Your donations will allow us to do that once again this year, all the while protecting our endangered and threatened salmon populations.

You can donate at www.scwa.bc.ca/donations with your credit card, or by messaging our page.
Cash, cheque or e-transfer works as well.

If you cannot donate, please consider sharing this post so we can have maximum impact for our runs.

Anything you can spare helps our salmon.

Thanks Prince George, and stay tuned for more fish updates as they grow !

[Dave]

Yeah, I suspect release strategies and imprinting issues are the big concern with this hatchery.

[wildmanyeah]

Yeah, I suspect release strategies and imprinting issues are the big concern with this hatchery.

I cannot remember where I read it but i think someone that had experience with some hatcheries on the upper fraser years ago said that releasing chinook fry was a complete failure. That raising them in pens like coho may have been a better strategy. 


"I know because I worked at Quesnel Hatchery during this time. The problem was they were rearing upper Fraser chinook that have a yearling lifestyle and were trying to produce chinook with a coastal strategy of releasing fry of the year. It did not work so that was one of the reasons they cut those programs along with trying to reduce spending. What should have been done is that the fish all should have been reared as yearling fish and that is what you will need to do if you enhance upper Fraser chinook and this is what needs to be done ASAP if were serious about helping these stocks."


Just saw this posted on their FB page:

"We are in discussions as to getting to a smolt size release instead of fry.
However it has not been done up here (properly) before.
Net pens are a great way to have a natural touch to getting to smolt (outdoors and natural river water temps), however, the weather in our area makes it very challenging and not something other regions have much experience with."

[milo]

If so, what was the reason it was not approved?

I don't have an answer to that, but I do know Jonathan Wilkinson has a vested interest in salmon farms. As far as he is concerned, all wild salmon should go the way of the dodo bird. I hope we get to vote him and his cronies out in the next election. Our fishery cannot survive another 4 years of Wilkinson at the helm of the Ministry of FOC.

My conspiratory rant is over.

[skaha]

I cannot remember where I read it but i think someone that had experience with some hatcheries on the upper fraser years ago said that releasing chinook fry was a complete failure. That raising them in pens like coho may have been a better strategy. 



--These are technical issues that I am sure can be adjusted over time...learning from these small local projects are helpful and can provide valuable data for more ambitious future projects.

[firstlight]

I don't have an answer to that, but I do know Jonathan Wilkinson has a vested interest in salmon farms. As far as he is concerned, all wild salmon should go the way of the dodo bird. I hope we get to vote him and his cronies out in the next election. Our fishery cannot survive another 4 years of Wilkinson at the helm of the Ministry of FOC.

My conspiratory rant is over.

I cant wait to vote that SOB out of office.