apmikel wrote:
That is way better than last year when I was in Wellington and the mnr let all the salmon I beleive go right at the boat launch and there were swarms of like eating them as fast as they could. When asked they say they tried to drag the cage out to release them but it would get run a ground in Chanel What a joke. There was able 6-8 of them there with lots of gear and could have taken them one bucket at a time for that matter weather was beautiful. Oh well maybe this year they will get it right. I imagine that night when the walleye came in they were gobbled up
The call wasn't made by the MNR to dump the pens at the site, it was made by me. We have a set protocol by the Fish Culture division of the MNR to release immediately on site when the water temperature reaches 18 C. no ands ifs or buts. In the past we have always released in the Lake off Wellington is at all possible, and it is our goal to do just that. Our project is to care and feed the fry for at least 28 to 30 days to imprint then to the Wellington harbour water. Last spring we received the fry later than usual. With the Wellington channel not being dredged last spring it added to our problem of trying to reach the 30 days before the water temperature reach the set protocol. The night before, 8 volunteers spent a few hours moving the pens from the main site to the finger docks on Beach St. trying to buy a few more days. It didn't happen. WE HAD TO RELEASE THE NEXT MORNING.
No one wants to see predation on any young fish species but it happens. It's called Mother Nature.
Predation losses are built into the fisheries stocking system. Chinook salmon fry are the fastest swimming juveniles of all the salmonid species. They are really difficult for predators to catch. They are the only salmonid fry that go to the ocean or Lake at 5 months. All others stay in the tributary at year or longer. The next morning I went to the harbour and took water temps to see if they had changed. Temps were down to 14 C in 3 locations. The seiche fron the Lake had happened a couple times over night which brought temperatures down to an acceptable level. Unfortunately I couldn't wait and hope that would happen. I know with the cold water coming in that evening the fry would have gone to the Lake immediately. Salmonids like cold water.
Before 2003, 25,000 fry were stocked directly into the Wellington Channel and another 25,000 into the Lake at the end of Stinson Block road west of Consecon. At that time had a problem with predation by fish and cormorants. Since then CLOSA has penned up to 30,000 fry to give them a better start in their life cycle and to imprint them to Wellington Harbour, Wellers Bay and Brighton Bay.
We are always going to loose a few fry. With New York State and the Province of Ontario stocking 2.4 million chinook fry a year minor losses are not a big deal. It's part of the process. In addition, the New York DEC and the Ontario MNRF estimate that in most recent years, there are another 2.4 million chinook fry that make it to the Lake from natural reproduction.
Just stating the facts correctly,
Al
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