Page 4 THE WILLIAMS LAKE TRIBUNE Horsefly Lake field station helping in fisheries growth By Eileen Niquidet Tribune Staff Correspondent As you travel along the road out to Quesnel Lake and along Horsefly Lake, you pass a group of dark green and white buildings set in one of the nicest spots on Horsefly Lake. They look uninteresting, but stop to inquire what they are or speak to George MacNaughton or Doug Hembrough, the men in charge there, and this is what they will tell you. BUSINESS DIRECTOR BAKERIES CARS & TRUCKIN' i The only salmon hatchery in British Columbia is part of the Quesnel Field Station of the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission. The station was built in 1949 as a centre of operation for restoring runs of sockeye that had been exterminated by the Hell's Gate blockade and as an experimental unit for developing artificial aids for increasing salmon production. SALMON RETURN Although it was originally in- tended as an aid to rebuilding the famous Forsefly River rnns, the Hell's Gate fishways com- bined with scientini.ally designed fishing regulations are doing a remarkable job of accomplishing this without the station’s help. In 1941 only 1,000 spawning sockeye were counted in the Horsefly River as a remnant of the great run of 1913. Four eycles later in 1957 a total of 225,000 spawners were recorded. Thus protection of the run in tbe fishery and removal of obstacles ia its migration path have allowed nature to accomplish, in a short time, the almost impos- sible task of restoring this fabu- lous resource. There are, however, some streams in the Fraser drainage that once had sockeye runs which were completely @estroyed over the years by the blocx ui Hell’s Gate. The Upper Adams River is a classic example where (Seraevirge run was comphtely ex- terminated. A different race must be artificially transferred if those streams are to become productive again. Also many of the lakes in the Fraser basin that are accessible i9 sockeye and are potential rearing areas for fingerlings have no adjacent spawning groups or have limited gravel areas that can hold ovly a few spawners. Most of the current experiments at the Quesnel Field Station are aimed at these objectives— restoration of exterminated runs and better utilization of avail- able lake rearings areas. 6 FISH RETURN Experimental research was be- gun in 1949 and has been con- tinued to the present. 1a one of the first experiments, eggs were taken from sockeye that were spawning in the Horsefly River near McKinley Creek in 1949. They were incubated in the hatchery, and the tesulting fish were reared in outdoor ponds until the fall of 1250. Two-thirds of them were marked by fin-clipping, and thea all were transported by air and re- leased in Quesnel Lake. In 1952 13 three-year-old ‘‘ jacks” re- turned, and in 1953, 284 four- year-old adult sockeye came back —not to their native gravel beds in the Horsefly River, but to the pipeline outlet of the hatchery at Horsefly Lake. About t thirds of them were marked, so without a doubt they were fish that had been reared at the Quesnel Field Station. ARTIFICIAL SPAW) GROUND This return of sockeye to a place other than the spawning grounds of - their ancestors opened up two possibilities for increasing the runs of salmon in the Fraser drainage. If arti- ficial spawning areas could be built for lakes such as Horsefly Lake that have inadequate or no spawning grounds, and if trans- planted sockeye would spawn successfully and their offspring return in numbers sufficient for re-seeding these man-made spawning beds, then the natural food of the lakes could be utilized for producing more salmon. To explore this possi- bility an artificial spawning pond provided with sub-surface per- colation of water through the gravel was built in 1953. Soc eye that returned to the pipeline outlet that year were captured and placed in the pond where they spawned successfully. ‘The try that emerged from the gravel were released into Horsetly Above Lake; some went to sea as four-yeu smolts and a few of these rc- turned again to the hatchery known reason many of the fry tanks t released into Horsefly Lake tend 0 become kokanee or land- Pools. locked sockeye. Current experi- here for photographic purposes, ments have been greatly intensi- fied to inrcease the number of yearlings going to jthe great Horsefly Lake rearing area can be utilized and sup- ported by artificial spawning areas. another in an EGG TRANSPLANTING River, from fish that spawned at the Besides the possibility of establishing artificial. spawning MOorsefly grounds, the return of fish to the transplanted to other streams. hatchery outlet indicated that perhaps eggs or fry could be tranplanted to streams that have become barren of sockeye for salmon reasons such as the blockade caused by the Hell’s Gate rock slides. These. plants of eyed eggs have been eminently suc- cessful in some streams where the donor stock has been care- fully selected so as to be suited to the new environment. This method holds a great deal of promise as a tool for rehaoili- tating runs of salmon that are now extinct or are very low in number, A self-renewing run of almost 20,000 sockeye has been started by this method in ‘the Seton Lake area and last year, for the second cycle, *hun- dreds of sockeye returned to both Upper Adams and Shuswap Rivers where similar plantings had been made. While egg transfers have been successfal, many experimental transplants using fry or reared fingerlings have not proven successful in establishing runs so the earthen rearing ponds at the station are no longer used Below REASON FOR OPTIMISM taken from the Horsefly River. outlet in 1957. For some un- These fish are transported by ordinarily only nets are used to a so tha\ Move the fish. Then men in the photograph spawning pools at the Horsetly are shown examples of ar-old sockeye salmon © the outside spawning The fish were handled the right are seen expel ment to establish salmon run in Adams The eggs were taken hatchery and were then picture of the outdoor hatchery. The investigations of the Salmon Commission to date in- dicate that either improved hatchery operations or artificial spawning grounds or beth may be used for extending the sock- eye fisheries of the Fraser River by bringing barren lakes into production as free-rearing ponds. However, until the physical limi- tations surrounding the present day operational methods are fully recognized and corfected the success of using either method is in doubt. There is reason for optimism in expecting that some method of artiticral fry production will be develoved which will substitute for insu‘ti- cient spawning grounds natural lake rearing areas The necessary requirements for in- cubating salmon eggs can be supplied fairly easily by arti- ficial means. However, the scores of millions of young fry which hatch from the eggs of a large sockeye run have tremen- dous requirements in space and food during their year of growth in fresh water. These require- ments are normally supplied by lage lake-rearing arens and there is little hope, if any, of provid- ing an artificial substitute of al value for he loss of ye spawning prac both: natural sock and rearing areas. Watching the red run that came up Horsefly River in 1957 and seeing the work the men from the International 1'acife H's my new Squirrel Pocket Rocket Radio! T can listen to every station in town! ~ What have you got there, Jack? TUNING ANTENNA PERMANENT CONSTRUCTION — <—S NO BATTERIES! ee Camron GROUNDING WIRE Salmon Fisheries were doing was very interesting and fascinating. It was really a sight worth seeing. WE BUY OLD BATTERIES C & S TIRE SERVICE LTD. A REAL CRYSTAL RADIO! YOURS FOR ONLY $2.00 WITH A SQUIRREL PEANUT BUTTER LABEL Carry all your favorite radio programmes with you from room to room! Easy to operate. And fun! Be the first in your crowd to own one. To get your Squirrel “Pocket Rocket" radio, ask mom to pick up a jar of creamy Squirrel Peanut Butter. Send the label or a facsimile, along with $2.00 and your name and address, to Squirrel Peanut Butter, P.O. Box 2132, Vancouver 2, B.C. q@ A. COLE McCulloch Power Saws FAMOUS BAKERY Wholesale and Retail * SWEET GOODS * PASTRIBS | ~- 222 pe *, CAICES Corner Mackenzie and Yorston Birthday and Wedding Cakes Phone 51-X *Made to Order Wholesale Distributors of DOCTORS 4X Bread enone aa? W. J. M. 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Land Surveyor GENERAL CONTRACTOR Maynelisland; Ere: 7 Business Address Williams Lake — Phone 134 |po Box 768, WILLIAMS LAKE ga CIES 1GQQK & BARTELL COMMERCIAL - INDUSTRIAL B.C. LAND RESIDENTIAL SURVEYORS P.O. Box 675 Phone 239 me 256 Pho: P.O. Box 400, Quesnel, B.O. CARS & TRUCKING MeWILLIAM, WHYTE & SEARLE B.C. Land Surveyors e Service KAMLOOPS _ 219 Vi ia — LAKESIDE SERVICE PRINGH sone om ee 24-Hour Wrecker AND AUTO BODY 1368 Third Ave. — Phone 648 — Phone — : 212K (days) —198-F (nights) LAUNDRY eee a RAY HIGGINS LID. Trucks Out of Town Customers REO — FEDERAL Given Prompt Attention Single and Tandem : NEW AND USED TRUCKS |~ ~~ Phone 97 MISCELLANEOUS 345 Lansdowne St.,“Kamloops os] 2 ISstGoNIS.* T&H Cariboo Transport Limited DAILY SERVICE Vancouver - Wms, Lake URE’S LAUNDRY Public Accountant ° LAKEVIEW HOTEL Local Office a P.O. Box 868 ARMES BROS. 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