A Helping Hand

[IronNoggin]

As many here know, the return rate for Robertson Creek (Stamp) fish ain't been great the past few years.
What has been a LOT better have been the 2 year old smolts developed by Carole at Omega Pacific.
They are poised to do more, but of course cannot access public funding to do so.

Given the huge difference they can and do make regarding the fish we all catch, it might be worthwhile to consider a little donation towards this year's efforts:

https://www.gofundme.com/saving-the-iconic-king-salmon

I'll be all over that on payday...
Hope a few others can pitch in...

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Dogbreath]

done

 

[IronNoggin]

Many Thanks Dogbreath! Appreciated!

Kind of hoping there will be more support for an issue we all hold so close?

Wondering...
Nog

 

[TheBigGuy]

I will do that as well Nog. I don't know why, but this is the first time I've seen your post. It did not show up on my new posts list.

 

[CIVANO]

I'm in. Since I am happily enjoying the Trump Stock Market rally. Donald and I donated $200

Joe

 

[leaseman]

Hi Matt-
Any talk of a fund raiser? Raffle?
Just might spur the interest needed!!

 

[littlechucky]

Thanks for posting and will donate.

Pretty sad the dfo doesn't do more to support their efforts at least to determine the relative effectiveness of omega's methods. I think it's clear that many of our hatcheries are ineffective.

 

[IronNoggin]

... Pretty sad the dfo doesn't do more to support their efforts at least to determine the relative effectiveness of omega's methods. I think it's clear that many of our hatcheries are ineffective.

Thank You Sir!

For whatever reason, they have fought against anything that presents "innovation" or "something new" here for basically ever. That when the realized return counts in the single Point Oh digits.

Preliminary results suggest the smolts produced by the method in question here are Exponentially higher than those of the hatchery. In fact, higher than pretty well most hatcheries.

Yet funding and support is withheld in favor of the system proven to be a "hanging on by the skin of your teeth" methodology.

I fully support what these Folks are up to. Someone has to try and figure this out, and it has become increasingly apparent the ministry mandated with doing so has but little, if any, interest...

Cheers,
Nog

 

[littlechucky]

Thank You Sir!

For whatever reason, they have fought against anything that presents "innovation" or "something new" here for basically ever. That when the realized return counts in the single Point Oh digits.

Preliminary results suggest the smolts produced by the method in question here are Exponentially higher than those of the hatchery. In fact, higher than pretty well most hatcheries.

Yet funding and support is withheld in favor of the system proven to be a "hanging on by the skin of your teeth" methodology.

I fully support what these Folks are up to. Someone has to try and figure this out, and it has become increasingly apparent the ministry mandated with doing so has but little, if any, interest...

Cheers,
Nog

Our government is more broken than the hatcheries. The only objective is keep your job.

The waste and inefficiency is disturbing.

If they were actually accountable like the private sector, they would all be fired.

Topic for another thread.

 

[sundance]

Many Thanks Dogbreath! Appreciated!

Kind of hoping there will be more support for an issue we all hold so close?

Wondering...
Nog

Check into funding for her project , she took over a hatchery in the lake that DFO started yrs ago , water far to cold to raise fry so she took over , she is raising super smolts force feeding to raise to a bigger size to stop predators. USA, plus our selfs , puget sound tried they desmated all small bottom fish plus to many returned as spawner jacks , she is trying to raise $100,000 to raise that many fish , hatchery costs are 33 cents to wire code and clip , Robertson crk put 6 million fry out , she seems to want to make it a paid job for her x DFO husband and her 3 staff ???

 

[IronNoggin]

Don't know just where you "checked into" but you couldn't get much more wrong if you tried.
You work for the department?? LOL!

Omega Pacific hatchery has several advantages to Robertson Creek. That water you refer to comes in CLEAN (as in no influence by fish whatsoever which translates to zero chance of the now many viruses that have hit Robertson over the past few years). The cooler water is pretty much tailor-made for the production of two year old smolts. The "super smolts" you refer to are actually not much larger than the single years smolts released by Roberston, and are certainly not force-fed as you suggested. They are much more robust, so I guess "super" in that way, and their return rate is leaps and bounds over what Robertsons have ever seen.

Have absolutely no idea what you're rambling about "they desmated all small bottom fish plus to many returned as spawner jacks" ?? The facility is located on Great Central Lake. There has been no destruction of small bottom fish whatsoever as a result of their efforts. The rate of returning jacks is still largely unknown, but has not indicated any increase in percentage whatsoever. Of the 6 million fry Robertson puts out, their returns are so dismal as to almost question their activity overall. The opposite is the case for Omega.

The folks at Omega have an awful lot on their plate to begin with, and certainly do not need this type of involvement "to make it a paid job for her x DFO husband and her 3 staff ?". Far from reality there, their donating one hell of a lot of time and effort into Community conservation with these types of projects.

For any interested, here's some real facts for you: http://www.omegapacific.ca/

As for sundance... I'd strongly suggest a little more in depth fact finding before you attempt to lynch such fine folks online.

Cheers,
Nog

 

[TheBigGuy]

I went to the website and made a contribution to support their efforts. The process was very quick and easy. I'd highly recommend anyone who fishes regularly on the west coast consider doing so as well. Any project that will boost numbers on the Island is worth supporting. I highly hope this project gets the support it needs to make a positive impact on West Coast returns. I wish the project well, but well wishes don't fund expensive long term rearing projects. I hope others will give a little to show support for this very worthwhile enhancement project.

Thanks for posting Nog.

 

[IronNoggin]

Update: http://www.cheknews.ca/successful-salmon-returns-shunned-dfo-says-private-hatchery-292400/

 

[TheBigGuy]

Glad to see they are getting some exposure from the local news outlets.

 

[GLG]

I still have concerns with this information that gets posted here and on their website. To start I have no direct experience with raising chinook but have many years raising coho/chum as a volunteer in a community hatchery. I support any program that is trying to solve the problems we are seeing with our salmon including this one.

Here are some of my concerns and how do we translate their apparent success to other hatcheries.

S0 and S1 - the difference between the two are usually built into the genetics. Ocean type (S0) and stream type (S1). That's what thousands of years evolution on a steam gets you, the best way to grow eggs to adults for that spot. I'm not clear if they are taking a natural S0 and raising them and releasing it as a S1. If we are to translate this success then what do we do with salmon that are naturally S1? Do we hold them back to create an S2? How do you stop them from smolting as would normally happen or do you just let them smolt then release them as a S2 that has smolted for over a year.

S0 weigh on average 2 to 4 grams or there abouts. Not sure how much because I have never weighed any chinook stream type but I don't think I'm far off because chum are also a S0 type fish and I have weighed more than a few of those.....
S1 weigh on average 12 and 18 grams (for wild coho) as I have weighed thousands over the last decade. It all depends on what kind of year they had growing out in the stream. Hatchery smolts can be grown to whatever size you what but I try for 18 to 20 grams. It's harder than you think given the feeding tables that we get from the food suppliers. On a side note I took a DFO excel sheet and modified it to work, so far so good. I did see some S2 wild coho a couple of years back that were into the 30+ grams and were the odd's looking smolts I have ever seen. They have really big eyes and have been told that sometimes they get trapped or decide not to leave for some reason. With all that said my concern is the info I have seen says that there S1 are 50 grams at release. That is one big smolt (super smolt) and I'm not sure how to do that given the room at a hatchery and the amount of food needed.

I also am concerned with the remarks that were said about the smolt to adult ratio. Are we comparing apples to oranges when we compare a S0 and a S1? That, at this point I'm not sure of this and I'm open to others that may know more. I do know that we need get our smolt to adult ratio to be at 5% if we are going to turn this problem around. Anything less is just not sustainable over the long haul. I do also know that for some reason the wild smolts are doing better than the hatchery ones. Why I don't know.

I have great hopes for the science teams that are working on all this from Strategic Salmon Health Initiative.
https://www.psf.ca/what-we-do/strategic-salmon-health-initiative