Culture Development
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\.-\BR4'Yr VANCOUVER, 8. C. .I CANADA FISH CULTURE DEVELOPMENT A Report of the Fish C ulture Development Branch of the Conservation and Development Service SH 37 A11 !Reprinted from the 'T wentyfourth A nnual Report 1953 c.2 of the Department of Fisheries of C anada RARE • - - - ,.. ....... T°""'y--. SH 37 A11 1953 c.2 RARE Canada. Fish Cu/tum Development Boinch Fish culture devefoprnent. a report of the 02011321 C.2 DATE DUE BORROWER'S NAME 2 RARE SH 37 A 11 1953 c. lopment Branch . h Culture Deve Canada. Fis t a report of the . h lture deve lopmen . Fis cu c.2 02011321 ,. / FISH CULTURE DEVELOP~ENT . - -- NE of the important responsibilities of the Department of Fisheries is to O maintain and develop fish stocks in Canada. Unless the proper safeguards are taken, large-scale capture and other factors, such as water-use projects, pollution, etc., reduce fish populations and result in lower annual returns to the industry. Certain species of fish, such as Pacific salmon, Atlantic lobster and Atlantic salmon, are more valuable than others. To ensure that annual yields will continue at maximum levels, the Department spends large sums of money each year to prevent the fishermen from taking too many fish and to implement measures leading to the production of larger stocks. In the year under review the Department spent more than $3,700,000 in this way through its Conservation and Development Service. Two-thirds of this amount was for protection services alone. The Department has found it necessary to maintain a large staff of protection officers who travel by land, air and sea in the performance of their duties. The operation of a modern, fast patrol fleet involves annual expenditures for reconditioning hulls and engines, replacing obsolete and wornout craft with new ones and installing wireless equipment and electrical supply equipment to keep the fleet at peak efficiency. In 1953-54 the fleet consisted of 74 vessels. The protection officers of the Service work closely with the Fish Culture Development unit. This unit, comprising engineers, biologists and hatchery superintendents, is engaged in applying the results of scientific investigations t~ improve the natural environment of fish and to establish, through artificial means, new stocks where none exist. On the Pacific Coast particular attention is given to salmon-bearing rivers while on the Atlantic Coast, Atlantic salmon, oysters, various species of trout and the waters they inhabit are investigated. Pacific Area Pacific salmon are the backbone of the British Columbia fishing industry. The fish swarm into the river mouths at certain seasons of the year and become easy prey tG the fishermen who know just when and where to expect them. The regulations are designed to allow a certain percentage of salmon to escape the nets and proceed upriver to spawn. To complete their cycle successfully, they require unpolluted water and an unobstructed passage to the spawning beds. There must also be proper water conditions for the survival of the young. Thus police work is only part of the protection officer's job. In addition to enforcing closed seasons, restricted areas and limitations on gear, they take strategic positions on salmon rivers and operate as the eyes of the Department, checking the fishery, observing and recording the escapement, making recommendations for changes in regulations and removing minor obstructions in the river channels. 3 53315-2 l The major portion of the work of the Fish Culture Development staff in 1953,54 was involved in the study of the effects of industrial water,use projects on the salmon populations. The prevention of a decrease in stocks; resulting from multiple,use of the waters frequented by fish, is preferable to attempting to increase the stocks to their former size after they have been depleted. Engineers, biologists and field technicia~s were employed more than half of their time on studies of several major industrial projects. To provide for fisheries needs as determined by the fish culture staff, the Aluminum Company completed construction of a storage dam on the Cheslatta River and when requested by the Department, released water to provide sufficient flow for spring salmon to spawn and for the eggs to incubate in the Nechako River between Fort Fraser and the Nechako Dam. On Jones (Wahleach) Creek the staff worked with the British Columbia Electric Company to protect the 1953 pink salmon run through the spawning and incubation period. Pending completion of an artificial spawning channel, recom, mended by the Department, the company released water as needed from Boulder Creek dam through the gate installed at the request of the Department . The British Columbia Electric Company's plans for an installation on Seton Creek necessitated considerable discussion in respect to fisheries problems. A joint programme of study was .set. up with the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission and the British, Columbia Game Commissio~. This involved field surveys and inspections, close examination of the construction schedule and experi, mental work at the University of British Columbia hydraulics laboratory in the design of fish facilities for the Seton Creek Dam . In connection with the Dominion, Provincial flood control project on the Okana, gan River, joint studies were carried on to determine the best methods of preventing interference with the Columbia River sockeye runs. The two years of study suggested by the International Joint Commission were completed in co,operation with the United States' Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington State Department of Fisheries. The installation of an oil refinery on the Thompson River at Kamloops posed for the fishery both a water,use problem and a pollution problem. Joint studies were conducted with the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission and when the project was completed every protection had been assured to the fishery. Work on the problem of designing suitable screens for the many irrigation ditches on the Nicola River and tributaries was continued. The experimental installation constructed the previous year was tested, and additional ditches were examined for the presence of salmon fry and other general data needed to develop the screening programme. During the year, the British Columbia Power Commission commenced rebuild ing the hydro,development project on the Puntledge River and studies of its effect on the fishery were begun. This general programme of study of new water,use projects covered all new uses from the large developments mentioned above down to the smallest irrigation and domestic water diversions. In all these studies, it was shown that the proposed industrial developments could proceed without harm to the fishery, provided certain precautions were taken by the company or agency responsible for construction. The precautions involved only moderate cost compared to the overall cost of the development concerned. The mass of debris, which blocked a channel in the Babine River in 1951 and threatened serious depletion of the Skeena salmon fishery, was completely removed by the summer of 1953. During the season a record number of sockeye (714,604) passed the slide area with apparent ease and were counted into Babine Lake. A new fishway was constructed at Karmutsen Falls on the Nimpkish River in northern Vancouver Island where a ten,foot falls for many years had impeded the progress upstream of the large runs of sockeye. The new fishway was cut out of solid rock in a special pattern arranged to permit passage of salmon without addition of any formalized concrete baffies. The programme of study of downstream movements of young salmon on the Capilano River in co,operation with the British Columbia Game Commission was continued in 1953 and will play an important part in the overall study of the problem of passage of fish over high dams. A special tagging and spawning ground'sutvey was carried out on the pink salmon runs above Hell's Gate. This was undertaken to learn more about the pink salmon populations above Hell's Gate because of the large increases which have occurred since completion of the fishw~ys in 1945. Fishery officers were constantly engaged in keeping the streams clear and in salvaging fry. One hundred and thirty,five streams were covered to the extent of removing log jams, breaking up obstructing rocks and boulders, and deepening channels to ease the passage of salmon upstream. To assist the young salmon downstream, the fishery officers salvaged stranded fry in the many streams which are subject to abnormal fluctuations in water levels. Engineering-Biological Wor~ Fish Culture activities increased with the expansion of the Atlantic salmon restoration programme being developed by the Co,ordinating Committee on Atlantic salmon. Departmental engineers, biologists and protection officers contri· buted much time and effort towards giving full effect to the stream management and regulatory policies of the Committee. A field team studied what effect the New Brunswick budworm spraying programme had on fish. Thirteen streams and ten lakes were investigated. From the survey it concluded that the spraying caused mortality in the fish populations of the area. The degree to which they were destroyed was not ascertained. Stream improvements included clearing channels ,and pools on the Margaree River and Trout Brook, Lake Ainslie, in Nova Scotia. Surveys of the Musquo, doboit, Kerby, Moser and Ecum Secum rivers were carried out in co,operation with the Protection unit to determine whether a heavy catch of "slink" sea trout was being made by anglers. The creel census showed that less than 600 sea trout had been taken during the period in the lower reaches of these waters. Duckor (Dukor) and Mill lakes, Cape Breton County, were surveyed for volume to carry out a plan to eliminate their coarse fish populations and to subsequently restock them with sp~ckled trout.