Cowichan River loosing Steelhead hatchery

[Vince914]

BOB HOOTEN Doesnt mention that the steelhead program out of the hatchery states they are raised in ground water so how would a fish,.. return to the Cowichan ...?? when the water isnt cowichan river water ?? Its no wonder why there program has failed
They were strong smolts but no instinct on what river to return to
correct me if I ma wrong If anything it should only be cut in half not completeley

 

[Fog Ducker]

Vince,
Salmonids are generally known to imprint on the water that they smolt in. the hachery would raise the steelhead up to the parr stage (before smolting) then release them into the river where they would smolt, (and imprint)and generally return to the river they smolted in. its not perfect as there will almost definately be some stays.. But it is a common practice (ie raising chinook fry in Nanaimp River hatchery that are released in Chemainus River)and is proven effective by the use of CWT's (coded wire tags).

 

[Oglthorpe]

quote:Originally posted by Fog Ducker

Vince,
Salmonids are generally known to imprint on the water that they smolt in. the hachery would raise the steelhead up to the parr stage (before smolting) then release them into the river where they would smolt, (and imprint)and generally return to the river they smolted in. its not perfect as there will almost definately be some stays.. But it is a common practice (ie raising chinook fry in Nanaimp River hatchery that are released in Chemainus River)and is proven effective by the use of CWT's (coded wire tags).

This is true with the chinook. There is a small amount of straying. But, they are fed at the hatchery for a couple months to 5-7 grams. Where a steelhead is fed at the hatchery for a year and released at a much larger size, 75-100 grams I believe, so I would have a hard time believing that they wouldn't imprint on that water in that time.

 

[Fog Ducker]

If that was the case then there would be 200 steels piled up at the outlet of the hatchery effluent wanting migrate "upstream", besides they have tried rearing the fish in alternative places other then the ground water (ie in the lake), with no better returns. lets just face it, the returns are horrible for this program and always have been.

 

[Paldislayer]

Wouldn't the wild life also be eating a large amount of these. Last time i was down there was five bald eagles in the trees making a lot of noise. I don't think the bears or the eagles are filling out the survey. And the biggest pest of all, the seals.[xx(]