5620 x 3733 px | 47,6 x 31,6 cm | 18,7 x 12,4 inches | 300dpi
Aufnahmedatum:
2008
Ort:
Roberts Creek Fish Hatchery Port Alberni Vancouver Island BC Canada
Weitere Informationen:
The Robertson Creek project began as a spawning channel in 1959. When officially opened in 1960, it was the largest artificial spawning channel in North America. The project was designed to introduce pink salmon into the Somass River system, and although 1.6 million pink salmon eggs were planted in the gravel, very few pink salmon returned as adults to the channel. In 1971, a successful pilot operation on Robertson Creek led to construction of a full scale salmon hatchery. Production began with chinook and coho runs in the fall of 1972. Steelhead trout were later introduced. An expansion of the facility in 1975 increased the rearing capacity by two ponds. A second expansion in 1980 increased incubation, rearing and adult fish handling facilities and added a water cooling system for the summer months to reduce stress and disease among rearing coho and steelhead fry. Today, Robertson Creek Hatchery produces 8 million chinook smolts, 1 million coho smolts and 180, 000 steelhead smolts each year. The resulting adult salmon production is 150, 000 chinook, 100, 000 coho and 10, 000 steelhead each year. To produce these salmon for the various fisheries in the area, Robertson Creek uses state-of-the-art hatchery techniques. From beginning egg to later smolt stage, salmon are nurtured in a protected environment. They are safe from predators and environmental pressures that normally, in nature, take a heavy toll on their survival. Then the hatchery release the smolts into the river where they begin migration to the ocean. These salmon return as adults in much larger numbers than found in nature. Water intake for the rearing ponds have a unique self-cleaning device (called a Finnigan Wheel). The Robertson Creek Hatchery officially opened in 1960, when it was the largest artificial spawning channel in North America, and is now the most successful hatchery on Vancouver Island, producing nearly 10 million smolts annually; chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead.
