cilities in British Columbia (Table 5). Five of these are 

 on Vancouver Island and the sixth, Capilano, is on the 

 mainland just north of the city of Vancouver (Fig. 2). 



Hatchery emphasis has been placed on fall chinook 

 and coho salmon (Table 6) rather than sockeye salmon 

 as was the case in the early years. In 9 yr (1968-76) fall 

 chinook salmon migrant releases have increased twenty- 

 fold (from 147,000 to 30 million fish). Coho salmon re- 

 leases also increased, from almost 70,000 migrants in 

 1970 to over 2.3 million in 1976. In addition, the CFMS 

 has begun a steelhead trout rearing program with the 

 first migrant fish released in 1973 and has been experi- 

 menting with summer chinook salmon. 



While numbers and pounds released by British Colum- 

 bia hatcheries each year have been small when compared 

 with the production of the large Columbia River com- 

 plexes, results have been encouraging. To date, the most 

 dramatic success has been the survival of the 1971-brood 

 coho salmon released from Capilano hatchery. Of 284,000 

 fish released, there was a return of 2,700 jacks (fish re- 

 turning as 2-yr olds) in 1973 and 37,000 adults in 1974. 

 This is a hatchery return of almost 14%. In addition, 

 these fish contributed heavily in the fishery, exhibiting a 

 1:1 catch to escapement ratio. The total survival for this 

 brood of fish was almost 28%. 2 



It is interesting to note that of the six CFMS facilities, 

 three began as spawning channels. All three of these have 

 either been modified to include rearing facilities or have 

 been converted to hatcheries. Big Qualicum Hatchery 

 originally had two spawning channels; one is still being 

 used for that purpose for chum salmon and the other has 

 been converted to a rearing channel. Puntledge and 

 Robertson Creek were unsuccessful as spawning channels 

 primarily due to unsuitable water supplied during egg 

 incubation. After several years of operation with poor 

 results, the two facilities were converted to hatcheries. 



Washington Coastal and Puget Sound 



The Baker Lake Hatchery built in 1896 by the State of 

 Washington on a tributary of the Skagit River, was the 

 State's first facility located outside the Columbia River 



"K. Sandercock, Department of Environment, Fisheries and Marine 

 Service, Vancouver 1, B.C., Canada U6E 2P1, pers. commun. November 

 1976. 



system. At this hatchery sockeye salmon were spawned, 

 the eggs hatched, and the fry released back into the 

 Skagit River. After several years, the hatchery was sold 

 to the U.S. Fish Commission and was operated as part of 

 the Federal hatchery system. 



Between 1899 and 1925 more than 50 different salmon 

 facilities were constructed and operated in this region by 

 State and Federal agencies. Most were eventually fail- 

 ures due in part to lack of suitable water supplies, an 

 insufficient supply of eggs, lack of funds, or, in many 

 cases, lack of knowledge. A few, such as the Quilcene Na- 

 tional Fish Hatchery (1911) operated by the U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Dungeness 

 (1902), Green River (1901), Nooksack (1899), Puyallup 

 Salmon (1917), Samish (1899), Skykomish (1905), and 

 Willapa (1899) hatcheries operated by Washington De- 

 partment of Fisheries (WDF), are still in operation to- 

 day. 



All species of salmon were reared at these early facili- 

 ties with coho and fall chinook salmon being predomin- 

 ant at the State hatcheries and fall chinook, coho, and 

 sockeye salmon at the Federal hatcheries. In addition, 

 both State and Federal hatcheries raised steelhead trout. 

 In 1932, responsibility for steelhead and other anadro- 

 mous trout was transferred to the newly formed Wash- 

 ington Department of Game (WDG) (Berg 1968). The 

 majority of fish from the early State hatcheries were re- 

 leased as unfed fry while the Federal hatcheries reared a 

 considerable number to larger sizes before release. 



Due to the serious decline of the fishery resource, 

 WDF, WDG, and USFWS have constructed new facili- 

 ties to improve the runs of salmon and steelhead trout 

 (Chaney and Perry 1976). Since 1960, these three agencies 

 have operated or supervised a total of 26 hatcheries and 

 32 rearing ponds or net pens (Table 7). Of these, all of the 

 hatcheries and 19 of the rearing ponds and net pens re- 

 leased anadromous fish in 1976. The rearing facilities in 

 this region are located in two areas: Puget Sound (Fig. 3) 

 and Pacific coast (Fig. 4). 



This region has produced a large percentage of the 

 total anadromous salmonids raised on the Pacific coast. 

 The 921 million migrant fish that have been released over 

 the 17 yr since 1960, constitute 27% of the total coastal 

 releases by number (Tables 8, 9). By weight, the 23.4 

 million lb (10.6 million kg) of migrants are 22% of the 

 coastal total. Migrant releases in 1976 totaled 89.4 mil- 



Table 5.— Anadromous fish rearing facilities— British Columbia, 1960-76. 













Year 









Species reared 



Anadromous 



anadromous 





General 



Operation 



during 



releases 



operations 



Hatcheries 



location 



agency" 



year span" 



in 1976 



began 



Big Qualicum 



Qualicum Beach 



CFMS 



fc, co, sh 



Yes 



1967 



Capilano River 



North Vancouver 



CFMS 



fc, co, sh 



Yes 



1971 



Puntledge 



Courtenay 



CFMS 



fc 



Yes 



1971 



Quinsam 



Campbell River 



CFMS 



fc, co, sh 



Yes 



1975 



Robertson Creek 



Port Alberni 



CFMS 



fc, co, sh 



Yes 



1972 



Rosewall' 



Fanny Bay 



CFMS 



CO 



Yes 



1972 



'CFMS = Canadian Fisheries and Marine Service. 



2 fc = fall chinook salmon, co = coho salmon, sh = steelhead trout, sc 



'Operated as research facility. 



spring chinook salmon. 



