DFO opens The Campbell River for Chinook Retention

[Gong Show]

Biotic potential.

A certain stretch of salmon rearing beds can only support a certain number of spawners.
Put more spawners on the beds than they can support and the numbers decline rapidly.

Minimum escapement is better than over escapement, a lot better.
Terminal fisheries do not produce the best table fare, but they are an excellent fish management tool.

This is why we need to be so careful of the salmon spawning beds.
Salmon cannot just spawn anywhere.

 

[littlechucky]

Biotic potential.

A certain stretch of salmon rearing beds can only support a certain number of spawners.
Put more spawners on the beds than they can support and the numbers decline rapidly.

Minimum escapement is better than over escapement, a lot better.
Terminal fisheries do not produce the best table fare, but they are an excellent fish management tool.

This is why we need to be so careful of the salmon spawning beds.
Salmon cannot just spawn anywhere.

Although I would suspect the bigger fish spawn more successfully and perhaps this weeds out the smaller fish.

Just a thought and by no means based on any data whatsoever.

 

[Dave H]

Although I would suspect the bigger fish spawn more successfully and perhaps this weeds out the smaller fish.

Just a thought and by no means based on any data whatsoever.

The "data" are right there in front of everyone to see and you are correct.

The race of Chinook that evolved in the Campbell did become mostly "big" because it was mostly big fish that could successfully spawn in the large gravel/substrate that the Campbell offered, being short, turbulent and, compared to other systems, somewhat bereft in the gravel recruitment area due to Elk Falls; made much worse after the dam was built.

Go read the ledger of catches on display in the Tyee Clubhouse and note when they began to noticeably start to diminish.
(It's closed now so do it next Tyee season.)

Those big fish are why the title of, "Salmon Capital Of The World", became synonymous with the name Campbell River.

The Quinsam hatchery, during the 40 plus years of its operation, both saved the gene pool of the big Campbell River fish but also helped homogenize the Chinook runs of the system, and that is reflected in the numbers of sub-30 pound fish we see returning annually.

It's all common sense and mostly common knowledge relative to Chinook salmon in the Campbell/Quinsam system, their origins and their slow demise.

A few years back the hatchery started a program to mate big boys and big girls as opportunities presented themselves, and this year the Tyee Club started a program of providing genetic material from any fish that may have returned this year and could be linked to those efforts.

I'd expound more but I'm just home from a trip to Sechelt to visit my sisters and my butt is numb, I'm tired and my dog wants me to walk him.

See ya later.




Take care.

 

[wildmanyeah]

The race of Chinook that evolved in the Campbell did become mostly "big" because it was mostly big fish that could successfully spawn in the large gravel/substrate that the Campbell offered, being short, turbulent and, compared to other systems, somewhat bereft in the gravel recruitment area due to Elk Falls; made much worse after the dam was built.

I go to a hatchery often that is close to home, It's a hatchery on the fraser run by volunteers like most. This hatchery has larger then average size chum compared to the other fraser tributaries. In a conversation with the hatchery manager i bought up the gravel as a possible reason. He said yeah that's a possibility but he thinks for this system is because the chum are forced to stage in the muddy bottom portion and have to wait for the rains to come in november. The big males always arrive first starting in october but dont paterner up and spawn till november during large rain events when they can finally move up the system.

I remember you mention that catches used to also be more successful when the campbells flow was not altered by the dam and fish had to sit in the pool and wait for the water to rise. Perhaps the altered flows also used to contribute to the size of fish.