From Eggs to ..... Release! 

salmonids & sturgeon fish culture activities

Salmonid Fish Culture 

Unlike their salmon cousins, trout and char can spawn more than once in their lifetime. The eggs are collected using several methods and returning the adults broodstock to the lake or stream.

There are egg stations operating for 2 to 4 weeks every spring or fall on lakes in the province. Some stations have ‘traps' set where the lake flows into an outlet creek to capture the trout as they head out to spawn in these creeks. The captured broodstock remain in these holding traps until their eggs are collected.  Other egg stations collect their broodstock in a net trap suspended in the water column of the lake.

The fish culturists spawn enough broodstock to collect enough eggs required to grow all the fish requested by the regional biologists.  Along with the eggs, information is also collected from the broodstock so the culturists can accurately assess the average size, age and strain of the spawners. 

Read more about egg stations here in the "Pennask Trout" article by Robert Koopman

Egg Collection for steelhead and sea-run cutthroat

Broodstock is collected for the anadromous (steelhead and sea-going cutthroat) programs by angling or fish traps at river mouths.  Most anadromous programs are run in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada hatchery staff who will trap and transport the broodstock until they are transported to their spawning site.  To avoid any fish health problems in the hatchery, these adults are kept at a separate site than the main hatchery. Wild broodstock will naturally carry parasites or bacteria so measures are taken to prevent any health issues.  Sampling of broodstock for disease screening of each female is also taken.  After the eggs are collected, the fish are returned to their home stream.  In a few months, their progeny will also be released into these same systems.  

Depending on the facility or life stage, trout are reared in a variety of containers before release. Generally the eggs are incubated in Heath trays, Incubation jars or upwellers until they are developed enough to be ‘ponded'.  Ponding describes placing fish at the alevin-fry stage from their incubation tray and into a trough or larger pond with flow through water systems.  Approximately two days after ponding, the fish will have used up their nutritional yolk sac and will be swimming up to the surface looking for food. This life stage sees the fastest rate of growth and fish culturists are continually modifying their growing densities and feed sizes.  Fish are also reared to larger sizes in large circular tanks, raceways and ponds. Each of these different rearing containers will have different modes for feeding fish and loading into the trucks.   Learn more in the A Trout's Life page.

White Sturgeon Fish Culture

The culture of white sturgeon is considerably more complex than for salmonid culture programs. The FFSBC is actively developing expertise in a number of sturgeon culture areas including broodstock capture and reconditioning, gamete collection, and juvenile rearing and marking.

Broodstock capture and reconditioning

Currently, all eggs and sperm obtained for recovery programs in BC are derived from wild adults. This requires the capture of adults annually, and internal inspection of gametes to determine maturity. Adults are captured via angling and or set lines in the river. They are brought on board for inspection. Immature fish are released immediately, while likely candidates for the culture program are returned to the hatchery facility where they are held for several weeks until they are fully mature.

Gamete collection

Before any spawning can be conducted in the hatchery facility, adults must be fully mature. To check the maturation progress on females a small incision is made, a few eggs are removed and examined periodically; the incision is then sutured up. Since adults may not necessarily mature in synchrony, the application of hormones is used to help induce final maturation, and to help synchronize spawning events where possible. The spawning process involves hand expression of eggs from females and sperm is extracted by way of a syringe in males, The fish are reconditioned in the facility, prior to release back to the river.

Juvenile rearing and marking

White sturgeon eggs are incubated in tall cylindrical containers keeping families separate until larvae hatch. At this time each family is moved to a separate tank where it is raised until it can be tagged individually. All sturgeon rearing facilities are maintained in quarantined areas, separate from the other hatchery facilities. Juvenile sturgeon are raised until they are one year of age and then released. Pilot studies are being conducted to determine age of release with the highest post-release survival rates. Prior to release, all juveniles are scute- marked and pit-tagged so that they can be individually identified if they are recaptured. Tagging is extremely useful for studies investigating survival, movement, growth and age.