Ozone
04-21-2014, 08:26 PM
http://www.courierislander.com/news/local/amazing-video-shows-release-of-campbell-river-s-young-chinooks-1.978584
The tray holding the tiny chinook is only about an inch thick. But as Quinsam Hatchery Manager Dave Ewart opens it, the underwater camera catches an amazing site. A seemingly endless number of chinook emerge, taking the first swim of their young lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNiU9mlq4I4
Over 750,000 thousand salmon that were placed as eggs in the Campbell River in January were released as free-swimming chinook fry last Monday. The project is funded in part by the Campbell River Salmon Foundation and carried out by the Quinsam Hatchery. The hatchery normally produces about 2.9 million chinook smolts a year in their regular program. But this “rebuilding enhancement project” which uses in-stream incubation boxes, is part of a plan to home these chinooks on the upper watershed of the Campbell River. Due to various causes the number of big chinooks spawning in the Campbell River has dropped off over the years. But this project is helping bring them back.“Up to 30 per cent of the adult chinook return to the upper Campbell River comes from the incubator group,” said Ewart. “And they are all natural age class comprising larger and older fish.“We could not have done this project without the funding provided by the Campbell River Salmon Foundation,” said Ewart. “Every fall, they provide $10,000 worth of funding to the hatchery to carry out all of the work to take these “extra” eggs and place them in the Campbell incubators.” Some young chinook will spend several months in their natal river before heading out to the ocean. These chinooks, however, will not dally long.“They do not spend more than a couple months in fresh water before heading to sea,” said Ewart. “From sampling we have done and river swims in the spring, we know that these fry head fairly quickly to the lower part of the river. They occupy a near shore type niche in the side channels at Baikie Island, along the Tyee Spit, and protected back-water type habitats.“They grow quickly and are basically all gone from the estuary by the first of July.”Campbell River Salmon Foundation chair Martin Buchanan was on hand for the release on Monday. As he kneeled beside the river and thousands of the released fish milled near shore, he smiled and said, “Not bad for $10,000.”
The tray holding the tiny chinook is only about an inch thick. But as Quinsam Hatchery Manager Dave Ewart opens it, the underwater camera catches an amazing site. A seemingly endless number of chinook emerge, taking the first swim of their young lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNiU9mlq4I4
Over 750,000 thousand salmon that were placed as eggs in the Campbell River in January were released as free-swimming chinook fry last Monday. The project is funded in part by the Campbell River Salmon Foundation and carried out by the Quinsam Hatchery. The hatchery normally produces about 2.9 million chinook smolts a year in their regular program. But this “rebuilding enhancement project” which uses in-stream incubation boxes, is part of a plan to home these chinooks on the upper watershed of the Campbell River. Due to various causes the number of big chinooks spawning in the Campbell River has dropped off over the years. But this project is helping bring them back.“Up to 30 per cent of the adult chinook return to the upper Campbell River comes from the incubator group,” said Ewart. “And they are all natural age class comprising larger and older fish.“We could not have done this project without the funding provided by the Campbell River Salmon Foundation,” said Ewart. “Every fall, they provide $10,000 worth of funding to the hatchery to carry out all of the work to take these “extra” eggs and place them in the Campbell incubators.” Some young chinook will spend several months in their natal river before heading out to the ocean. These chinooks, however, will not dally long.“They do not spend more than a couple months in fresh water before heading to sea,” said Ewart. “From sampling we have done and river swims in the spring, we know that these fry head fairly quickly to the lower part of the river. They occupy a near shore type niche in the side channels at Baikie Island, along the Tyee Spit, and protected back-water type habitats.“They grow quickly and are basically all gone from the estuary by the first of July.”Campbell River Salmon Foundation chair Martin Buchanan was on hand for the release on Monday. As he kneeled beside the river and thousands of the released fish milled near shore, he smiled and said, “Not bad for $10,000.”