The 1¢ Capilano a nestled under the trées
of Grouse Mountain beneath a soft rain, is quietly

going about its. business. of replenishing British

Since:

hatchéry saree’ operations ‘of salmon. *

thousands . of. salmon ‘and
steelhead trout ‘have been

Columbia's 8 salmon and steelhead trout stocks,

wf a

Long: before the ily

spawned, carefully cultured, of the $3 million hatchery in

and released to tackle the —

tougher world and waters‘of |

theocean... oe,

‘It is proof of the success of: '
‘tthe. Salmon Enhancement
Program (SEP), launched by -
the federal Department of.
. Fisheries and Oceans:in 1977 .
to replenish: the : seriously-
depleted “West. Coast
salmanoids which. include

1971, it was evident that the:
-€apilano coho. salmon and
steelhead | trout were
‘threatened with ‘extirction..
The Cleveland Dam, built in
. 1954 to supply water for the.
Greater, Vancouver area,
: had effectively barricaded -
the river, thereby preventing ..
‘the. salmonoids from.

| swimming up-river to their,

traditional spawning
grounds. Ue

Before the hatchery. was
built, the Greater Van-
couver Water ‘District, now’
the GVRD, used-to catch the’
returning salmon ‘in: holding.
pens and transport the adults.
by truck to waters above the
dam. The system was even
used after the hatchery. was
built, . me D

The problem, explains
hatchery manager : Eldon
Stone, wasn't getting the-fish
up-river alive but getting the

_ young,. newly-spawned | ‘fish

. down-river inone piece.’

“The obstacle was getting
the fish over the dam,” says
Stone. Its: a Straight fell to.

bee . . , G

the ‘Yyocks below,” and many

fish nover ‘survived the. leap,“
The: ‘statistics . show: ‘the

5,000'to 10, 000: :

‘

damage: |

adult coho salmon‘ returned |

to, the
‘every year ‘before. the dam
was built, compared to 1,800.
after the dam was in Mice
The number of steelhead
trout: plunged dramatically
from 2,000 before 1954 to.
about’ 200 afterwards. ~

The hatchery has changed
all those ‘statistics and it

“proudly boasts a 10 per cent
the.

return (160,000) on
roughly 1.6 million young
fish released each year from

CONTINUED ON PAGE C2

Capilano; to. spawn

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