Salmon & Trout Hatchery

The Spruce City Wildlife Association has been involved in Salmon Enhancement since the early 1980's. After a few years, with limited success and in temporary locations, it was decided that a hatchery was needed in order to continue successfully. In 1987 construction of a beautiful log building to house the Hatchery located on the banks of the Nechako River was completed. In 1988 25,000 Chinook fry were released into the Salmon River, north of Prince George. For many years after that the club raised and released approximately 50,000 - 60,000 fry each year. The SCWA won the BC Wildlife Federation's Roderick Haig-Brown Award in 1988 for the year's most outstanding project after the construction of their Hatchery.

In 1994 the SCWA constructed and manned their first fish counting fence on the Salmon River. In 1990 60,000 fry had been nose tagged at the Hatchery before release and the purpose of the fence was to monitor and count the adults as they returned to spawn. This fence was constructed each summer for 4 years in cooperation with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, who provided partial funding through the Public Involvement Program. The fence was manned by students hired through funding from Canadian Forest Products and data collected by the students and volunteers at the fence was provided to DFO. In 1998 effort were turned to the Chilako River and an enumeration fence was constructed at that location for an additional 4 years.

In August each year members of the club and volunteers in the community embark on the Brood Stock Capture. This is when the adult salmon, male and female, are captured in the Salmon River and transported in tanks back to the Hatchery. Once the females are ripe eggs are collected, fertilized with milt from the males and placed in incubation trays until they become fry and are ready for ponding in November. Volunteers feed the fry each day until they are large enough to be released at approximately 5 grams. Prior to release back into the Salmon River the fry are left ventral clipped to identify them as hatchery reared fish.

Some of the eggs collected are incubated and distributed to schools in Price George who are involved in the program "Salmonids in the Classroom". Through this program students are able to see the development of fry from eggs to smolts in an aquarium setting while learning about the life cycle of the salmon. Each spring these classes visit the hatchery for a tour of the facility bringing their fry so that they can be clipped and released with the clubs fish in May.

In April, when it is time to clip the fry, the public is encouraged to participate, and in May when it is time to release the fry, club members and members of the public accompany the transportation tanks back to the Salmon River to release the smolts into the river to begin their trip to the ocean. When they are 4 or 5 years old these smolts, as mature adults, begin their journey back to the Salmon River to lay their eggs.

The SCWA is involved in a number of wildlife and enhancement projects but it is the Salmon Enhancement that is the most visible and gets most of the clubs volunteer hours.