SOOKE RIVER JACK BROOKS HATCHERY UPGRADES!
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Made possible by the BC Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF)
and the Juan de Fuca Salmon Restoration Society
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The BCSRIF is a program funded jointly by the federal and provincial governments, intended to support protection and restoration activities for priority wild fish stocks, including salmon. The five-year program, funded 70% by the federal government and 30% by the province of BC, is designed to support projects that will ensure the fish and seafood sector in BC is positioned for long-term environmental and economic sustainability.
Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society is greatly indebted to the board of directors of Juan de Fuca Salmon Restoration Society for their support and in particular to Elida Peers in working with a dedicated group led by Bill Pedneault to compose an application to this fund for projects which would enable our organization to meet the future scientific standards that are being required of community hatcheries.
While hundreds of applications were submitted, we were fortunate that this one was approved, to provide financial assistance for installation of a chiller, construction and installation of mini-towers for aeration, and devising of a system to meet provincial Ministry of Environment requirements for disposal of fish effluent. The funding provided by BCSRIF is intended as a contribution to these projects, to be joined with an enormous amount of volunteer work and in-kind contributions from both the Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society and the Juan de Fuca Salmon Restoration Society. We are very grateful for the support of the BCSRIF program.
The BCSRIF approved $151,000.00 to support costs associated with setting up the chiller and aeration tower projects, plus youth educational projects and documents recording the processes that have been developed. The installation of the chiller enables marking of the otolith in ear bones of the developing salmon in order that the fish can be identified. Through the variations in marking, the fish can then be tracked as recommended by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in order to provide them with relevant information. The new design and construction of the mini-towers for aeration, intended to produce the appropriate blend of oxygen and nitrogen in the water supply, without the building of the previously used tall aeration towers, is already being looked at with interest by other hatchery personnel in BC.
The upcoming new requirements for effluent disposal present another challenge, and the determination of what the requirements will be for this hatchery on the quality of the Charters River are in process of being determined. Scientific testing has begun, and a design will be produced by experts in this field, to be installed as required and approved by BC’s Ministry of Environment and DFO, on the hatchery site. While potential costs for the system are unknown at this time, BCSRIF has allotted the sum of $769,000.00, should it be required, for this aspect of the upgrade to the new Sooke River Jack Brooks Hatchery. A handbook will be produced for the guidance of other hatcheries.
It should be recognized as well that initially the relocation of the Jack Brooks Hatchery to the Charters River site and basic construction of the new hatchery was undertaken in 2018, at the suggestion of Regional Director Mike Hicks and Wally Vowles. The fulsome support of the Pacific Salmon Foundation initiated the funding for the hatchery construction itself, which then benefitted from an incredible amount of good-hearted support from hundreds of volunteers and many generous corporate donors.
The update details that we have outlined here are a separate undertaking supported by BCSRIF, a process which has followed after the initial construction. What binds the two undertakings together is the generosity of spirit that is shared by so many dedicated volunteers.
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