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Babine River counting fence

The Babine River salmon counting fence is located one kilometre downstream of Nilkitkwa Lake, 360 km from the commercial fishing boundary at the mouth of the Skeena River. The counting fence was established in 1946 and is used to provide an accurate escapement count of sockeye and other species of salmon entering Babine Lake, where up to 90% of the Skeena River sockeye are produced in any given year.

The counting fence is normally installed in early July depending on water levels in the Babine River. Installing the fence entails positioning 66, 4 by 7-foot aluminium panels in their respective places along the 330-foot frame that spans the entire width of the Babine River. Seven holding traps, approximately 6 feet wide by 8.5 feet long are spaced across the river on the upstream side of the frame. After all the panels are in place, each of the seven traps is made operational by positioning sliding doors and counting chutes.

All species of salmonids are present in the Babine River with sockeye being the most numerous. Large numbers of pink salmon are also present and spawn directly above the counting fence. When post spawning mortalities occur, the fence soon becomes littered with their carcasses, which are subsequently pitched over the fence. The fence is opened to allow fish through from 0600h to 2200h daily and counting between these times is performed in a series of two hour shifts by two, three, and sometimes, depending on the strength of that day’s run, four persons. At the end of the salmon migration, the aluminium panels are removed and the camp is closed down.

Sampling

Every day of the migration 25 sockeye are randomly removed from the traps for the purpose of sampling. The procedure consists of sampling for sex, nose fork and hypural lengths and general age, size and sex make-up of that year’s migration, therefore enabling potential egg deposition to be estimated. Chinook salmon are sampled after spawning as they are removed from the fence during that day’s deadpitch. All chinook, with the scarce exception of those that are badly decomposed are sampled for scales, sex, nose fork and hypural lengths, origin (hatchery or wild stock by adipose fin) and in the case of females, egg retention. Pink salmon are sampled for sex and nose fork length. As is the case with chinook, pink salmon are easily recovered from the fence during that day’s deadpitch and it is at this time that the 100 daily samples are obtained. An effort is made to stop and sample each coho with a missing adipose fin for scales, length and sex.

Babine River fence counts

Count archives

Date Large sockeye Jack sockeye Pink Coho Large chinook Jack chinook Steelhead
23/07/20 1,567 28 0 0 0 0 0
23/07/21 12,297 197 0 0 4 1 0
23/07/22 14,741 318 0 0 3 1 0
23/07/23 9,936 326 0 0 3 10 0
23/07/24 6,626 115 4 0 0 0 0
23/07/25 7,822 113 0 0 1 4 0
23/07/26 13,633 431 2 1 3 3 0
23/07/27 17,142 342 17 0 2 7 0
23/07/28 27,156 534 94 0 6 46 0
23/07/29 23,409 344 72 0 5 6 0
23/07/30 20,265 453 47 0 5 21 0
23/07/31 17,679 436 93 0 17 31 0
23/08/01 20,408 520 175 0 17 27 0
23/08/02 21,421 680 383 0 23 37 0
23/08/03 18,851 846 467 4 14 30 0
23/08/04 16,923 652 644 1 9 36 0
23/08/05 16,100 688 1,113 2 16 20 0
23/08/06 15,115 596 1,964 2 13 47 0
23/08/07 18,155 684 2,747 5 6 21 1
23/08/08 19,011 743 2,433 0 2 5 0
23/08/09 17,556 756 5,096 0 7 41 0
23/08/10 15,019 544 5,662 2 5 32 0
23/08/11 25,591 690 9,424 4 5 7 0
23/08/12 26,339 877 13,363 6 6 12 0
23/08/13 15,039 641 14,768 9 8 8 0
23/08/14 5,672 247 6792 2 2 15 0
23/08/15 11,765 328 4,510 3 3 7 2
23/08/16 25,385 689 8,575 3 0 5 0
23/08/17 29,936 936 11,733 2 1 3 0
23/08/18 40,719 1,047 19,161 6 11 13 0
23/08/19 32,436 1,191 21,274 2 9 31 2
23/08/20 21,916 1,019 20,545 10 10 8 0
23/08/21 44,646 1,793 32,212 37 12 37 0
23/08/22 39,508 1,503 19,400 29 15 21 0
23/08/23 24,389 1,113 14,288 58 14 24 0
23/08/24 40,272 1,354 25,362 34 11 23 0
23/08/25 41,096 1,093 22,569 63 23 33 3
23/08/26 35,972 1,136 17,815 156 39 53 0
23/08/27 33,089 1,065 15,881 118 31 592 0
23/08/28 33,700 1,082 18,738 101 34 51 0
23/08/29 36,479 1,184 14,741 158 31 33 0
23/08/30 33,278 1,248 14,507 356 30 24 0
23/08/31 26,177 1,217 8,130 425 48 43 0
23/09/01 26,969 1,270 6,228 331 21 16 0
23/09/02 17,816 1,303 5,346 246 18 16 0
23/09/03 19,208 789 5,917 352 12 21 0
23/09/04 20,806 519 10,567 420 12 6 0
23/09/05 14,565 110 10,053 415 7 8 0
Total Total 1,073,600 35,791 393,278 3,363 574 1,536 7
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