47 



CHAPTERS 



SALMONID 

 ENHANCEMENT 



The future strength and natural diversity of 

 our salmonids should be maintained through 

 an appropriate balance of hatcheries and 

 more natural approaches to salmonid 

 enhancement. The preservation of wild stocks 

 must be the management priority of the next 

 decade. 



SPORT FISHING INSTITUTE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA' 



In the introductory chapter to this report I noted that 

 the dependence of our predominant fish resource, 

 salmon, on rivers and streams at the beginning and end 

 of their hfe cycles gives rise to both problems and oppor- 

 tunities. The major problem is that their spawning habi- 

 tat is vulnerable to being disturbed by industrial activity 

 on the adjacent lands, pollution, diversions and obstruc- 

 tions of waterflows, and other environmental damage 

 described in Chapter 3. The major opportumties are 

 twofold. First, the reliable return of anadromous fish to 

 their natal streams toward the end of their life makes 

 them potentially easy to harvest and manage. Second, it 

 leaves the stocks highly amenable to enhancement 

 through improving spawning beds and constructing facil- 

 ities that increase the productivity of spawning fish. This 

 chapter deals with the Salmonid Enhancement Program 

 and its prospects for significantly increasing salmon 

 abundance. 



The major Salmonid Enhancement Program began in 

 1977. but efforts to build up salmon stocks on the Pacific 

 coast began a century ago.- According to the annual 

 reports of the Department of Marine and Fisheries (as 

 the federal department was then called), a request from 

 Ottawa in 1882 led to construction of the first hatchery in 

 British Columbia on Bon Accord Creek at Port Marm in 

 the lower Eraser Valley. This hatchery produced sockeye 

 and Chinook salmon. In the decades that followed, many 

 experimental projects were undertaken with various types 

 of hatcheries and fishways. Unfortunately, most of these 

 projects, especially hatcheries, were unsuccessful and 

 short lived; in fact, all salmon hatchenes were closed in 



1937. Only after World War II was a concerted federal 

 effort made to rehabilitate and enhance the fisheries. 



In the two decades following the war, major fishways 

 to help salmon upstream were constructed on the Eraser, 

 Bulkley, Nass, Cowichan, Somass, Sproat, Indian and 

 Naden Rivers. The most ambitious and probably the 

 most successful project was the fishways built at Hells 

 Gate which began operation in 1945. It was jointly 

 financed by Canada and the United States under the 

 auspices of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries 

 Commission, which was established to manage and reha- 

 bilitate Eraser River sockeye stocks after they had been 

 devastated by slides caused by railroad construction 

 through the canyon decades earlier. 



The first spawning channel was built at Jones Creek in 

 1953, and during the next two decades additional projects 

 of this kind were constructed at Robertson Creek, Big 

 Qualicum River, Weaver Creek, Seton Creek and on the 

 Babine River system. Some of these were verv' costly. The 

 Babine Lake Development Project, involving flow control 

 and spawning channels on the Eulton River and Pinkut 

 Creek dunng the late 1960s, cost roughly $10 million and 

 is the largest spawning channel project in the world. The 

 Robertson Creek facility was later converted to a 

 hatchen,' and has proven highly successful in producing 

 Chinook and coho salmon. 



Because of early disappointments, hatcheries received 

 little attention for several decades. But during the 1970s, 

 the focus on hatcheries was renewed. Following a pilot 

 hatchery constructed on the Big Qualicum River to test 

 new techniques, the first modem large-scale salmon 

 hatcher\ in Bntish Columiba was completed in 1972 on 

 the Capilano River near Vancouver. This $3 million 

 project, producing coho and chinook salmon and steel- 

 head trout, is considered to be one of the most successful 

 hatchenes in the world. A second major hatchery was 

 completed on the Quinsam River in 1975. At the present 

 time 10 salmon hatchenes are operating in Bntish 

 Columbia and 5 are under construction. 



THE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM 



Early in 1974, the Department spxjnsored a policy 

 development seminar in Vancouver to examine the 

 opportunities for increasing salmonid (i.e. salmon and 

 anadromous trout) production. Participants included 

 fishing industry representatives, the academic, scientific 

 and financial commumties as well as federal and provin- 

 cial officials. The assembly concluded that a cost recover- 

 able program to increase the production of salmonids to 

 historic levels was feasible and that such a program 

 should proceed immediately.' 



