Department of Fisheries reps led by Scott Ducharme (right) lead HSWS members through a chum egg take on October 26th at Hoy Creek Hatchery.
Hoy-Scott Watershed Society began incubating chum eggs in October and November. The Society had only been raising coho salmon for the past twenty-years or so. The addition of chum was made possible through the generous support of the Pacific Salmon Foundation enabling us to purchase and install a new incubation stack and piping for our Capilano trough room. Thanks also to the DFO and City of Coquitlam.
The hatchery has not raised chum since the mid 1990s and applied to do so again in 2015.
"Most of the chum eggs are now eyed and doing great. We had a poor survival rate in 2 of the trays, but the remainder looked good," said hatchery manager Rodney Lee. Coho egg-takes are our next focus and are now underway.
The new chum egg incubation stack is now incubating over 36,000 eggs. Thanks to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, DFO and the City of Coquitlam for contributions to complete the project.
In the videos below, eggs from 4 chum salmon are fertilized by hand at Hoy Creek Hatchery in Coquitlam. Guided by Scott Ducharme of the DFO. See MORE PHOTOS on our Facebook page.