USA-Canada Hatchery Comparaisons

high tide

Well-Known Member
This is shocking but considering Canadas WSP Wild Salmon Policy not surprising.

Locally here or more relative to the Lower Goergia Straight, the Chilliwack Hatchery produces our largest numbers of White Chinook. Its putting 1.25 million into the system this year.
With Fishery ministers annoucement they are adding numbers to bring it to 2 million White Chinook. Hardly a bump considering 47% are eaten up by Seals and Lions as they try to reach open water. And given a 3 to 4% return ratio on good years its a spit in the Ocean never mind a bucket.
We have 16 hatcheries in BC. Plus 7 spawning channels which are used more for Sockeye as the Sox dont perform well through hatchery sysyems.
In comparison, Washington State has 87 Hatcheries and contributes 190 million Salmonids to their rivers and streams. This includes some Steelhead and Trout but the bulk is Salmon.
Oregon contributes 90 million Salmon into their systems.

Laughable actually. Ya Minister Wilkinson has really taken huge steps to help our Fishery and SRKWhales.........NOT !!

The writing is on the wall. This government and several becore it could CARE LESS about Salmon on the West Coast of BC and Canada. In saying that also the same applies to SRKWhales.....yet they appear to make big steps.....as said Laughable.

These new measures taken by DFO and Minister Wilkinson will NOT grow more Salmon nor will it help the SRKWhales.

Way to go LIBERALS. Nice work!

As stated before on several threads, Canada cares more for Sea Based Fish Farms as its contribution to providing Farmed Salmon to the rest of the world.

Pretty Dam Sad times here.......but hey Sunny days Sunny ways.
 
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I find it interesting that there are a number of people here that are SOOO surprised by these 'NEW' revelations. These numbers and facts have been known for many years, the trends and risks were presented by a number of active groups and advocates for a long time with warnings of where this would lead to. You must have been busy fishing and catching but missing the messages all along that this all comes as a surprise to you now!? It would have been better had you informed yourself a bit along the way and maybe helped correcting this long term trend a while ago - while there were still conservatives or the liberals before in power. There is no political tribe that did this better or worse, all previous governments contributed to this outcome and I still see no turn around in the future by any of the current political options.
 
If there wasn’t an election this fall we wouldn’t be getting anything. But what’s the alternative? The Conservatives won’t spend squat on salmon and they’ll open everything up for retention. Hardly a plan for dwindling stocks. I have little faith in our government in Ottawa actually accomplishing anything except another collapsed fishery like Atlantic Canada. Would there be a unified voice for BC to take over the fishery lock stock and barrel? If being out here helps, they’re here, they know. I would rather Ottawa sends us some cash but beyond that, shhhhhhh, we didn’t ask for your opinion just some funding thanks. DFO can ride around on their new boats but BC Fish and Wildlife will be setting the rules, implementing policies and enforcing BC Law when it comes to our fish. Now 20-30-50 miles off the west coast, fine, that’s coast guard and DFO, but not within the set boundaries of our zoned system. It’s time has come
 
100% correct, under the Conservatives the Wild Salmon Policy was adopted, and in the case of upper Fraser Chinook production decreased from 11 million to just under 1 million. That was due to budget cuts which closed many facilities, again under the Conservative watch. Now arguably there were some concerns that the DFO approach to raising S-1 and S-2 Chinook (Stream-type) using methodology largely developed for S-0 (Ocean-type) led to those decisions. That is, the program(s) were largely failing to produce any results. So rather than investigate alternatives and apply learning to iterate improvements, under the influence of the Wild Salmon Policy it was simply the path of least resistance to just close those facilities. The Conservatives acted on the "advice" of the Department. That same Department couldn't figure out how to manage S-1 production of upper Fraser Fish, whereas other private facilities actually have adapted and developed successful S-1 programs. So, hardly a fair assessment of the politician's of the day who signed off on those recommendations.

So for me personally, I'm more than willing to wait and see what the Conservatives have to offer this time around. I already know the NDP have a strong track record of speaking up for the public fishery and doing the right thing to recover these fish...but can they actually form a Federal Government? As for the Greens, I worry about their approach to managing resource sectors...I've already had a bad taste of what the Liberals and their green ENGO backers have done.

What would I do or expect of a Candidate and their Party?

First and foremost is objectively learn from the past failures and try something different - status quo got us here, why would we think it will get us somewhere better? Second, employ a balanced recovery strategy aimed at brining our A game to recover Fraser Chinook as quickly as possible. In terms of learning from the past....a decade or so later are we so surprised that upper Fraser Chinook whom are dependent upon cold water and pristine freshwater conditions for the 1 to 2 years they live in the river as Stream-type Chinook are fairing so poorly. Especially comparing Ocean-type Chinook that migrate to sea almost immediately after emerging from the gravel - and appear to be performing far better than the S-1 and S-2 Chinook. We have impacts of climate change that require significant investment in different solutions to address the core problems. The same old will simply not work. We need a combination of hatcheries to immediately boost production, habitat to improve/address climate impacts, and predator control.

Trying to rely on closing fishing to create abundance, when you are failing to address the main reasons of Chinook decline (climate change, & predation) is simply a recipe that takes us to extirpation - don't follow what the Province of BC did to steelhead. Closing fisheries will only add less than 5% of the returning spawners to make it to their river, and that is simply not enough actual recruitment to make a substantive difference in my lifetime. Silly to think fishing closures will recover these wonderful fish anytime soon.

Sorry for the rant.
 
IMO that is why the PSF should make it their utmost priority to come up with a upper fraser river chinook recovery plan.

Sooner the better, as I don't think we will like what SARA will come up with in the years to come when many of these stocks get reviewed.

Some of the tributaries like the Nahatlatch had two spawners. Your now left with a transplant option. No amount of habitat work will bring something back that now pretty much extirpated.
 
100% correct, under the Conservatives the Wild Salmon Policy was adopted, and in the case of upper Fraser Chinook production decreased from 11 million to just under 1 million. That was due to budget cuts which closed many facilities, again under the Conservative watch. Now arguably there were some concerns that the DFO approach to raising S-1 and S-2 Chinook (Stream-type) using methodology largely developed for S-0 (Ocean-type) led to those decisions. That is, the program(s) were largely failing to produce any results. So rather than investigate alternatives and apply learning to iterate improvements, under the influence of the Wild Salmon Policy it was simply the path of least resistance to just close those facilities. The Conservatives acted on the "advice" of the Department. That same Department couldn't figure out how to manage S-1 production of upper Fraser Fish, whereas other private facilities actually have adapted and developed successful S-1 programs. So, hardly a fair assessment of the politician's of the day who signed off on those recommendations.

So for me personally, I'm more than willing to wait and see what the Conservatives have to offer this time around. I already know the NDP have a strong track record of speaking up for the public fishery and doing the right thing to recover these fish...but can they actually form a Federal Government? As for the Greens, I worry about their approach to managing resource sectors...I've already had a bad taste of what the Liberals and their green ENGO backers have done.

What would I do or expect of a Candidate and their Party?

First and foremost is objectively learn from the past failures and try something different - status quo got us here, why would we think it will get us somewhere better? Second, employ a balanced recovery strategy aimed at brining our A game to recover Fraser Chinook as quickly as possible. In terms of learning from the past....a decade or so later are we so surprised that upper Fraser Chinook whom are dependent upon cold water and pristine freshwater conditions for the 1 to 2 years they live in the river as Stream-type Chinook are fairing so poorly. Especially comparing Ocean-type Chinook that migrate to sea almost immediately after emerging from the gravel - and appear to be performing far better than the S-1 and S-2 Chinook. We have impacts of climate change that require significant investment in different solutions to address the core problems. The same old will simply not work. We need a combination of hatcheries to immediately boost production, habitat to improve/address climate impacts, and predator control.

Trying to rely on closing fishing to create abundance, when you are failing to address the main reasons of Chinook decline (climate change, & predation) is simply a recipe that takes us to extirpation - don't follow what the Province of BC did to steelhead. Closing fisheries will only add less than 5% of the returning spawners to make it to their river, and that is simply not enough actual recruitment to make a substantive difference in my lifetime. Silly to think fishing closures will recover these wonderful fish anytime soon.

Sorry for the rant.
Good rant...:eek: BUT and keep in mind my experience with Chinook are just the wild ones when talking about smolts. I'm mostly coho schooled in hatchery production.

There are only two different types of Chinook salmon, S-1 are ocean type and S-2 are stream type.
S-1 leave fresh water 3 to 4 months after hatching in the winter, it depends on water temperature. So you could say they go to the ocean in their first year of life.
S-2 spend around 18 months there and leave the freshwater in there second year of life.

S-0, S-1 and S-2 are maybe hatchery terms that I have seen before but not sure what it really means unless S-0 is ocean type and S-1 is a fed fry release of stream type and S-2 is a smolt release of a stream type.

So keep that in mind (S-1 and S-2) when you read about Chinook in DFO documentation.
You will see something like Fraser River Fall 4-1 Chinook. It means returning in the fall as 4 year olds and ocean type.

http://frafs.ca/sites/default/files2/Day 1 2019 Fraser River Chinook Conservation Measures.pdf
 
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What like these guys ... oh wait they are the enemy. Careful when you breakout the torches and pitchforks you never know who you are going to damage.
https://www.psf.ca/blog/restoring-lower-fraser


Hey Gil.... There is a lot of stuff going on in the back ground....even with PSF anytime u want to get caught up on whats up ..you know where to get a hold of me... Jerrod is on mark with most of stuff...just so u know.............
 
Federal government actions hurt Sooke hatchery fundraising efforts
Funding denial comes on the heels of fishing closures
Tim Collins
May. 25, 2019
https://www.sookenewsmirror.com/new...ions-hurt-sooke-hatchery-fundraising-efforts/

What a punch in the gut to hear that. Will be interesting to see where this money ends up. I know some groups were going to apply for some mass marking trailers. Wonder if they have heard back yet.

"
“Following an assessment of your preliminary proposal, your project has not been selected to move forward in the funding process at this time. Interest in the fund is extremely high and multiple expressions of interest related to supporting community-based hatcheries were received through the first round of application intake,” the letter stated.

The letter suggests the fund’s sponsor will work with the rejected applicants over summer to discuss their projects.

The letter is misleading in that every hatchery request was denied, Saunders said.

The denial of funding comes on the heels of other announcements by the federal government this spring that have severely limited salmon fishing in the region and have dealt lethal blows to several fishing charter businesses in the region."
 
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I'm wondering of it was a LOI into that newest funding source the "B.C. Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund". Anyone know?
 
With the SRIF funding there were 192 applications totalling over 327 million in requested funds. I know of 23 applications that are being looked into, does not mean they will get the funding.
 
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