36-52-2013: Pitt Lake

September 8, 2013 – I spent Tuesday and Wednesday up at the top end of Pitt Lake, actually in a bit further, on Corbold Creek, seining and spawning salmon with a hatchery crew. Pitt Lake is the second largest lake in the Lower Mainland, and one of the world’s largest tidal lakes. The Upper Pitt, as it is known, is the valley at the top end of the lake and is known to be a fabulous fly-fishing areas for steelhead. At least that’s what I hear, I don’t fly-fish myself.

Each fall a group of DFO hatchery staff, other DFO staff, and volunteers, head up to Corbold Creek to collect adult sockeye and spawn them on the river. The eggs and milt are taken back to Inch Creek hatchery where the eggs are fertilized and incubated until late winter, when the alevins emerge. The fry are reared for a few months and in the spring, they are returned to the system to help replenish the stock in the hopes that one day human intervention will no longer be necessary and the sockeye population will itself strong.

It’s physical work, and I prefer it to sitting at my desk all the time. We fan out across the river holding a seine net between us. A second crew works rom above and herds the fish downstream to to lower net, and then it’s all about hanging on and inch by inch, dragging that net back to the bank, one foot lodged in the lead line, the other stepping carefully in the loose cobble. All the while fighting the push of the water and the struggle of hundreds of fish thrusting their noses into the net in an attempt to escape.

When the net is secured at both ends, half the crew remains on net duty, holding up the float end so the fish can’t escape over the top, and keeping the net from being pulled downstream by the water flow. The rest of the crew works quickly to locate the ripe females – the ones ready to spawn – and takes them for brood. When the females have been taken, enough males are taken to fertilize the number of females, and the rest are released.

But even that is a challenge. The males have such large hooked snouts (kypes) and such strong teeth, that most of them are firmly entangled in the net and it means that each fish has to be manually removed, the net disentangled from their mouths. And those teeth end up leaving a lot of small wounds behind in one’s hands.

The day started grey and cool, but it warmed up as it went along. Mists developed and dissipated as the temperature differed between the land and the water, and breezes stirred the air, pushing it up and downstream. Eventually the sun came out and burned it all away.

At the end of the egg take, the coolers full of eggs and milt are loaded back on the boat for the hour+ ride back down the lake where they are loaded on a truck and driven another hour back to the hatchery.

It’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding, particularly when the weather cooperates. I’m up there again tomorrow, so hopefully she’s still in a good mood. 🙂