The Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society (SCSES) is hosting its 18th annual Salmon Auction Dinner on April 11, but ticket sales have Chapman Creek Hatchery manager David Burnett concerned.
Only 60 of 200 tickets have been sold, and the hatchery relies on this fundraiser for about 16 per cent of its annual budget.
With water shortages on his horizon, Burnett is also worried about the approaching summer and how those shortages might impact Coastal salmon stocks.
“The last month and a half, our water has been three degrees warmer than ever,” said Burnett. “Our contingency plan is to pump water from the wells, but we don’t know how much water we have in the wells because it costs $2,000 to test and we can only test in the summer.”
The hatchery has been petitioning the Sunshine Coast Regional District to increase their water allowance this season.
“Without the water there’s nothing we can do,” Burnett said. “The fish will be dying in the creek.”
The hatchery is set to release 70,000 coho, which are now transitioning from fry to smolt. While they are still fresh water fish, the smolt stage in the salmon’s life cycle is when they grow scales and begin to adapt themselves to a salt water environment.
According to Burnett, the return rate they see at the hatchery is about 10 of their fish to two wild salmon.
The fish return in the fall and find their way up an artificial ladder back into the hatchery. SCSES volunteers sort them into tanks depending on species and gender so that their eggs can be harvested for the next generation.
The hatchery relies on these volunteers to keep everything running, but they are mostly in their 70s (the oldest is 82) and aren’t always up to some of the physical demands of a hatchery. Burnett is hoping to attract some younger, more able-bodied volunteers.
“We would not be able to operate this hatchery without our volunteers,” he said.
Classified as a terminal hatchery, Chapman Creek restocks salmon for sport fishing, “which is great for revenue and tourism and B.C.,” Burnett said.
The hatchery is looking into acquiring a processing licence to help subsidize its budget through fish sales. They already sell some of their salmon at $3 a pound to hatchery members and $4.50 for non-members.
“But if we have no water, we can’t process anything,” Burnett said. “If we could turn that $3 a pound salmon into $10, it’s good revenue and it’s part of food sustainability and it’s local food. We have to start doing more for our community too, as opposed to just saying we release fish.
To find out more about the society and hatchery and to purchase tickets for next Saturday’s fundraiser at the Sechelt Seniors Centre see: http://scsalmon.org
