MISSION CREEK SPAWNING CHANNEL ANNUAL CLEANING. LETS NOT GIVE UP ON OKANAGAN LAKE KOKANEE JUST YET In an attempt to keep the Okanagan Lake stream spawning kokanee population from extinction - the BC Ministry of Environment contracts yours truly to maintain the spawning channel on a yearly basis. By maintain, I mean empty the settling pond and hydraulically flush the spawning gravel (see pics). OK, when I say extinction Im being a little dramatic but I can tell you that although the shore spawning kokanee of Okanagan Lake are doing quite well - the stream spawners are having a way tougher time. The 2013 stream spawner escapement estimate for Okanagan Lake was the third lowest on record and the 4th year in a row of dismal returns. To put it in perspective - in 1971 there were an estimated 350,000 stream spawning kokaneee and last year we counted around 12,000 ! So back to the spawning channel. Egg-to-fry survival rates are around 50% in the channel and only an estimated 5% in the Mission Creek main stem. Proof that all the special attention given to the channel is paying off ! Amazingly, the last few years have shown that the mission spawning channel (which is only 900 meters long) gets the same amount of fish as the entire 14 km of Mission Creek that is accessible to migrating kokanee ! Our valley creeks are in trouble. Urbanization and dyking, are the main culprits. Like I mentioned in a previous post - check out the pics attached and lets think of the good things being done.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 04:58:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015