F20 Hill Creek spawning channel

This project supports ongoing operations, maintenance, and monitoring at the Hill Creek spawning channel, including Kokanee fry emigration, Rainbow Trout redd counts and fry emergence, adult Kokanee size, fecundity and escapement, overwintering egg survival, and water quality at the spawning channel. The spawning channel was built as compensation for spawning habitat lost due to the construction of Revelstoke Dam, and now provides additional spawning habitat for Kokanee and Rainbow Trout from Arrow Lakes Reservoir.

 

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Final report: executive summary

All required operations were completed for Hill Creek spawning channel in the 2019-20 fiscal including Kokanee fry counts and Rainbow Trout redd counts in the spring, settling pond and gravel cleaning in the summer, and adult Kokanee counts and sampling in the fall. Winter monitoring and ice removal ensured adequate flows during incubation. Water monitoring and control to reduce sediment and optimize incubation conditions continued throughout the year. Fry production in 2019 was 3.26 million with an egg to fry survival of 58%. Rainbow Trout redd counts totalled 114 of which 30 were classed as “large” piscivore redds. The total fall return of adult Kokanee to Hill Creek was 130,000, with 63,030 adults admitted into the spawning channel for a potential egg deposition of 6.3 million. The average size of Kokanee (22 cm) was small leading to a low fecundity (<250 eggs/female). The majority of spawning fish were age-3 (80%) with the remainder mostly age-2. The channel was also used by the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC for an egg collection station (45,206 adults), and 5000 adults from Hill Creek were given to Okanagan Nation Alliance.

 

Click the provincial database link below to read the full final report for this project.