An alternative solution to hatcheries is spawning channels, which are man-made channels that provide quality spawning grounds for salmon.
Weaver Creek in British Columbia was a place where an average of 20,000 sockeye salmon spawned per year during 1942 to 1959 (1). However, due to the of spawning ground major flooding, this average fell down to 12,000 sockeye per year from 1960 to 1968 (1). This flooding from the 1960s was due to major logging practices around Weaver Creek (1). (This is a prime example that shows the detrimental effect of an anthropogenic activity on species mentioned in the "Causes of Declining Salmon Population" page.)
Due to the lack of good spawning ground caused a decline in salmon returning to the creek to spawn, the average commercial sockeye catch declined as well. Rather than creating a hatchery to solve this issue. Measures were taken to create a quality spawning ground for the salmon via spawning channels (1).
The Weaver Creek spawning channel extends from the creek and has controlled levels of water flow and gravel quality to an optimum degree fit for salmon (1). From this conservation method, about 80% of the eggs laid in the channel became fry while there was only 8% of egg to fry survival outside of this spawning channel (1).
This is a great conservation method that should be considered over hatcheries. Spawning channels allow a natural breeding of wild salmon where genetic diversity can be maintained by natural forces. Also, the free interaction of the spawners allow for chances of where one female's eggs are fertilized by different males. Hatcheries, on the other hand, use an unnatural method of fertilizing the eggs of one female with the sperm of one male in a bucket (5). Some hatcheries purposely fertilize the salmon with more commercially valuable characteristics to produce a commercially valuable offspring, proposing a possible risk that needs to be studied (4).
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| Photograph of Weaver Creek Spawning Channel taken by Grace Kim. |
Due to the lack of good spawning ground caused a decline in salmon returning to the creek to spawn, the average commercial sockeye catch declined as well. Rather than creating a hatchery to solve this issue. Measures were taken to create a quality spawning ground for the salmon via spawning channels (1).
The Weaver Creek spawning channel extends from the creek and has controlled levels of water flow and gravel quality to an optimum degree fit for salmon (1). From this conservation method, about 80% of the eggs laid in the channel became fry while there was only 8% of egg to fry survival outside of this spawning channel (1).
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| Photograph of Sockeye, Pink, Chinook Salmon in Weaver Creek Spawning Channel taken by Grace Kim. |
Both provide high egg to fry survival rates, but one has the risk of losing genetic diversity.
