Lang Creek Salmon

Last Wednesday morning, November 8th, we went to the Lang Creek Salmon enhancement facility to see the volunteers at work. First of all, the creek was full of salmon in the spawning process. Pretty well all species could be seen in the creek, some of which had already spawned and died. Because the creek level had been so low up until about a week ago the fish were making a major run for it now that the rain had increased the creek level. Some of the fish are diverted into tanks inside the building where they're sorted/separated by species and male/female. While we were there, the female Coho were being taken from one of the tanks and the Roe (eggs) was taken from them after they were killed. Fisheries and Oceans Canada dictate the number of fish the Salmon Society is allowed to kill for this purpose. Once the quota for females is reached, males are "milked" of their sperm. The Roe is transported to the Paper Mill, where the hatchery is located, and fertilized with the sperm. In the spring the Fry (baby fish) will be returned to Lang Creek where the cycle will begin again.
Through this process the fish population is slowly, but surely, being increased!