Snootli Creek Hatchery - Background Information

Built in 1978, with an initial capacity of 10 million eggs, this Japanese-style hatchery was designed to increase adult chum salmon returns to the Bella Coola River and its tributaries by 160,000 fish annually. As an aside, the Japanese-style reference is to the methods and infrastructure for incubating our chum eggs. When enhancement facilities were being set up in BC in the 1970's, the department looked around the world for successful chum hatcheries. The most successful ones were in Japan, using the techniques that are now standard.

Aerial Photograph of Snootli Hatchery

Expansion over the last 20 years has increased Snootli Hatchery's capacity to 8,000,000 chum, 3,000,000 chinook, 500,000 coho, and 1,000,000 sockeye. In addition, the hatchery is responsible for maintaining a pink salmon spawning channel on the Atnarko River, inside Tweedsmuir Provincial Park.

Snootli is entirely a satellite hatchery; that is, all fish raised there are from sites removed from the hatchery itself. The hatchery serves an area of approximately 31,000 square kilometers (in a 100-kilometer radius from the hatchery site). The area covered extends from Bella Bella in the west, to Smith Inlet in the south, Kimsquit in the north, and the Chilcotin in the east. The hatchery has been involved in these areas in a number of different ways: providing technical support to CEDP hatcheries, assisting the Community Advisor and volunteer groups in their programs, taking broodstock and eggs, performing assessment work for Fisheries Management and Stock Assessment Branches, taking eggs and planting trout fry in lakes for the provincial Ministry of Environment, assisting Habitat technicians in their programs, providing local student employment, et cetera.

Fish produced in the hatchery and presently returning as adults not only contribute to the commercial, native food and sports fishery, but provide much needed information which will be used to maintain and increase the valuable stocks of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout that inhabit the Central Coast of British Columbia.

The Chum Salmon Program

In Bella Coola, most adult chum salmon return to spawn in July and August, although some spawning occurs throughout September, October and November. Eggs are fertilized by the males as the females deposit them in the gravel. The eggs develop in the gravel over the winter. In March and April, fry emerge from the gravel and migrate directly to the ocean. After three to five years in the ocean, chum salmon return to their natal stream to spawn and perpetuate the cycle.

In mid-July, as the chum salmon begin to appear in the river, hatchery crews construct donor stock collection weirs on selected tributaries. Potential donor stock are captured at the weirs and placed in mesh-lined holding pens to be sorted for ripeness.

The fish in the holding pens are sorted regularly. Ripe females are killed instantaneously by a sharp blow to the head and hung to bleed before the eggs are taken. The eggs are placed in sealed containers and transported back to the hatchery on ice. Milt (sperm) is taken from the males into plastic bags, which are then sealed and placed in the coolers with the eggs.

Egg collection

Milt collection

 

At the hatchery, milt is combined with the unfertilized eggs. After the excess milt is washed out of the eggs, the now fertilized eggs are placed in upwelling bulk incubators called Atkins cells, supplied with a constant flow of aerated well water.

In late September, when the eggs have reached the "eyed" stage of development, they are siphoned from the Atkins cells. The eggs are then placed on screens in the keeper channels to continue their development. In October and November the eggs hatch, and the alevins fall through the screens into the gravel in the keeper channels to complete their incubation.

 

In January, the fry swim up from the gravel and migrate downstream to the rearing ponds. In the rearing ponds, the fry are fed from dawn to dusk, until they grow to an average weight of one gram. A major feature of Snootli Hatchery's fish culture program is that the eggs, alevins and fry from the various tributaries are segregated throughout incubation and rearing, so that they can be returned to their natal streams at the end of the rearing program. Hatchery fry releases are timed to coincide with the wild fry migration from each tributary. Just before releasing them, representative numbers of fry are marked by removing one or more fins. Fry-to-adult survival and overall hatchery production can be assessed from the numbers of marked adults that return.

The Chinook Salmon Program

Chinook salmon return to the Atnarko River from April through July. This is where Snootli Hatchery gets the vast majority of their broodstock. When spawning commences in September, crews from Snootli Hatchery go up to the Atnarko to collect brood stock using tangle nets. Ripe fish are spawned in the same manner as the chum. Milt and eggs are transported back to Snootli Hatchery in ice-filled coolers prior to fertilization. Upon arrival at the hatchery, the eggs and milt are combined to effect fertilization. After excess milt is washed from the eggs they are placed in upwelling bulk incubators (Atkins cells) and supplied with a constant flow of aerated well water.

 

In late October, when the eggs have reached the "eyed" stage of development, they are removed from the Atkins cells and any dead eggs are removed. The remaining eggs are placed in vertical stack incubators (Heath trays) to complete their development.

In February the fry are ponded to concrete raceways and started on feed. When the average fry weight is about 1.0 – 1.5 grams, they are transported to the Atnarko Spawning Channel fifty km east of the hatchery, inside Tweedsmuir Provincial Park, for further pond rearing and are released at an average weight of 5 - 6 grams.

Prior to release, representative numbers of fry are coded-wire tagged (CWT). A one-millimeter long binary coded tag is injected into the nose of the fish. All such fish are marked externally by having their adipose fin removed as well.

When an adult fish with a missing adipose fin is recovered, the head is examined for a tag. The tag is dissected from the head and read using a microscope. The marking code identifies the fry group to which the returning adult belongs. Fry-to-adult survival and overall hatchery production can then be determined from the ratio of marked to unmarked fish.

Snootli Hatchery also runs a yearling smolt program funded by the Pacific Salmon Fishing Commission (PSC). Almost half a million eggs are taken from the Atnarko River to be reared to yearlings, then released. The intent is to boost production above the present two million sub-yearling smolts that have been the mainstay of Snootli's releases. This is an experimental program undertaken to help increase the returns of Chinook to the Atnarko River.

Snootli also works with several other stocks of chinook on a conservation basis. The methods used are similar to the Atnarko, but the numbers of eggs taken and emphasis are different. Because the rivers involved are often much smaller and the numbers of available adults are lower, crews must sometimes become creative in their capture methods.

Tanglenetting is still the mainstay, but hand-snares and fence weirs are other ways of collecting the necessary adults. As the numbers of eggs are much smaller, the incubation process is also simplified. Eggs are planted directly in Heath stacks. The resulting fry are ponded and reared in Capilano troughs or fiberglass tubs.

Three of the conservation stocks are located in the lower part of the Bella Coola Valley (Saloompt, Nusatsum, and Noosgulch River). The hatchery also works to restore chinook runs in the Rivers Inlet area (Chuckwalla, Kilbella, Neechanz, and Wannock River). These runs are much smaller groups than the Atnarko, usually with eggtakes of less than 100,000, as compared to 1.8 million. Where the Atnarko chinook are in part a production group, the others are intended as conservation efforts, saving genetic diversity in times of poor survivals. Although small numerically, these runs are extremely important as gene pool reservoirs.

The Wannock Eggtake

The Coho Program

In November coho donor stock are tangle-netted from the Bella Coola River and its tributaries. Ripe fish are spawned immediately. Unripe fish are either released or brought back to the hatchery and placed in fiberglass tubs until ripe. Eggs are fertilized at the hatchery and placed in the Heath trays. Incubation and ponding techniques are identical to those used for the chinook.

The eggs are incubated over the next four months, after which they will be first ponded into Capilano troughs. As they grow bigger, they are moved outside into aluminum raceways. All coho reared at Snootli are kept over the next winter, mimicking the year coho spend in fresh water naturally.

In late May, yearling coho are released to their natal streams throughout the Bella Coola Valley, where they will migrate to the ocean immediately as smolts. This has a two-fold purpose: first, as the fish smolt immediately and go to the ocean, they do not compete with the fry of the year already in the creeks. Secondly, their rate of survival is greatly increased compared to that of fry released before overwintering.

Coho at Snootli Creek Hatchery are in part a volunteer effort, with local conservation groups helping with eggtakes, coded-wire tagging, and releasing the smolts at the end of the rearing cycle. Without the extra help with some groups of fish, the program as it is couldn't go on.

Most of the coho reared at Snootli are in conjunction with volunteer groups such as the Central Coast Fishermen's Protective Association(CCFPA), or funded in part by other groups such as RIHPSFA.

The Sockeye Program

Sockeye raised at Snootli Hatchery are without exception done at the behest of other groups. The broodstock are taken from, variously, Williams Creek near Terrace, Curtis Lake on the Central Coast near Hartley Bay, the Atnarko River, and Lonesome Lake. The Williams Creek sockeye, for example, are from a tributary stream to Lakelse Lake almost 300 kilometers northwest of the hatchery site. Crews go out in the field to collect eggs and milt from late August to the end of October, flying from Bella Coola by float plane.

Once there, the crews tangle-net the stream, collecting the ripe adults. The adults are then killed and bled (in the case of the females). Eggs and milt are collected in much the same way as with coho and chinook, iced, and flown back to the hatchery site to be put in Heath trays for incubation.

Since sockeye are more prone to certain diseases than other salmon, extra care must be taken when culturing them. As the eggs are stripped from the females, the fish are sampled for the presence of IHN (Infectious Hæmopoietic Necrosis) and BKD (Bacterial Kidney Disease). The eggs from each female are then kept segregated from all others up till ponding of the fry. This enables staff to quarantine any infected eggs, preventing disease outbreaks before they can start.

After rearing the fry for a short period, they are flown back to their natal stream, held in pens for a few minutes to allow them to acclimatize to the stream water, and then released to make their own way down to the lake. Once there, they will rear for another year before heading out to the mid-Pacific, where they will spend another three to four years before returning as adults.

 

This is the newest program at Snootli, initiated in 1999. The eggs taken are in conjunction with various groups including the Nuxalk First Nation.

Other Hatchery Programs

Hydraulic sampling

In November and January, hatchery crews sample the eggs and alevins in the gravel of the Bella Coola River and its tributaries (including the Atnarko River) to monitor the spawning success of the wild fish

The information collected is provided to the Fisheries Branch of Fisheries and Oceans Canada for use in developing stock management strategies and fishing plans.

Downstream trapping

When the wild fry emerge from the gravel and begin their seaward migration, hatchery crews place inclined plane traps in the Bella Coola River and selected tributaries (including the Atnarko River). These traps are fished from dusk to dawn, and nightly catches are recorded by species prior to release.

The primary purpose of this program is to monitor the wild fry migrations, so that hatchery fry can be released at the same time.

Stock Assessment

Snootli Hatchery participates in a wide variety of programs to help determine the numbers of adults spawning in selected streams. This can involve fence counts, deadpitches, stream counts from helicopter or on the ground, manning counting towers, or tagging and recovering adults as they enter the system, spawn, and die.

The hatchery is involved in these programs for two reasons: first, to help determine the hatchery contribution to the run, and second, to assist in the management of individual stocks by Fisheries Management Branch and Stock Assessment Branch.

Snootli Hatchery's fish production programs cannot be fully assessed until adults return. From the time the parent stock spawns until their progeny return, a period of time between three to five years has elapsed. Therefore, information is constantly being updated with each year's return of adults.

Atnarko Spawning Channel

Built in 1986, the Atnarko Spawning Channel was constructed to help stabilize the pink runs in the Atnarko River. This 1.8 km long artificial channel provides sheltered spawning and rearing areas for pink salmon, coho, and, in the lower reaches, chinook. Because the channel is flow-controlled, floods and other natural disasters are minimized, allowing for higher survivals of eggs and fry. The channel recently underwent habitat complexing (strategic placement of logs and boulders) to increase its rearing capacity.

Awards

!n 2001, the staff at Snootli Creek were honoured first with a Regional Director's Merit Award, and later with a Deputy Minister's Prix d'Excellence, including attending a reception in Ottawa, for their work on rescuing and restoring the Rivers Inlet sockeye runs.

These awards are given annually to outstanding public sector employees across Canada within the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, for exemplary contributions to the department. This is all the sweeter for the recipients since almost all the staff were either born or raised in the area. For such a small, isolated community to have its native sons and daughters to be honoured in this way is a major achievement.