Are all hatchery coho clipped?

xavier

xavier

Member
There is always lots of talk about not all hatchery fish being clipped. Does anyone know the real goods? Anyone have an idea of what percantage of hatchery coho are clipped?

It was my experience that about 50% of the coho we caught in Renfrew three and four years ago were clipped. This year, it seems like less than 10%. I hope it is because the wilds are making a great comeback! But my suspician is that less and less hatchery fish are being clipped. Since those involved in the hatcheries - by the way thanks for your hard work it is truly appreciated - are trying to build stocks back up, would they not have a natural bias and interest to not clip the fish?
 
I'm not sure what the percentage is, I'm sure it is different for every hatchery. But to answer your first question, no not every hatchery fish is clipped. It has alot to do with funding, as it would be too expensive to do every single fry. Perhaps the funding level has decreased? I've done a couple years worth of clipping before, we did most of them but not all.

Take only what you need.
3641877346_d9919f98d0.jpg
 
I belong to a hatchery and it has nothing to do with funding for us.
We just try to get enough guy's out to clip as many as we can...it is a big job, but i figure the more I clip the better my chances to hit 'em on the beautiful little river I fish.
DFO opened it 3 years ago after a 15 year closure so it does work...even on an urban stream.

Just my 2 cents

Getbent
 
I help at the Little River hatchery and we try to clip all our coho every year. I would never volunteer at the Oyster though, simply because of the fact that they don't clip. All they are doing is producing fish for the commercial fleet to catch but local anglers can't keep a single one.
 
quote:Originally posted by beemer

If you wanted to volunteer to help clip who would you contact in the Victoria area?
Click to expand...
Hey Beemer! I see you all the time driving past the house, I live on the corner. I use to Volunteer at the Goldstream Hatchery , the Hatchery is called Howard English,Goldtsream Hatchery. The guy you want too talk too is Peter Mcully. PM me if you want someone too go with. Jason
 
Yup, 10% seems the reality for Canada. I believe the US has much higher clipping rates. Any one involved there can confirm this?
 
Yes, I wish one of them would reply to this. Maybe none of them are fishermen, or maybe they don't eat fish, or perhaps they all are commercial fishermen.
 
As far as I know the Capilano has clipped 100 % of their Coho for the last 4 years I think. Can anyone confirm that ? I will call the hatchery and confirm that figure. I will also try to find out why they clip and some hatcheries don't. My understanding is that it is a matter of manpower/time/money. It is tedious work so even if you have volunteers its quite an undertaking. No one to do it, it won't be done ...but I will find out if thats correct.

Quote from xavier "It was my experience that about 50% of the coho we caught in Renfrew three and four years ago were clipped. This year, it seems like less than 10%. I hope it is because the wilds are making a great comeback! But my suspician is that less and less hatchery fish are being clipped".

I don't think you can make that "wild vs hatchery" ( or hatchery clipped vs hatchery non clipped) conclusion from a few trips . You could catch way more clipped Coho on one trip and then the next trip way less, for many reasons ......one such reason is simple ..you were catching mostly one particular hatchery's fish on one trip (who clip a higher percentage of fish) and the next time you were catching another hatcheries fish which only clip a small percentage . Another reason is the depths you were fishing on each trip may have had a different amount of wild vs hatchery each year at the particular depth you were fishing.....or timing of runs had varying amounts of wild vs hatchery at the times you were fishing.
I think you would need a fair bit more data to determine how things had changed when comparing years.
As far as hatcheries clipping less Coho than a few years ago ....not sure but a bit of research on the American and BC hatcheries practices over the last several years would provide the answer. My understanding is that many American hatcheries are clipping all their chinook now. Anyone want to confirm that one ? It would sure make sense if all hatchery coho were clipped. It is rather silly that we are releasing unclipped Coho we call "wild", that really often are not wild. Risking killing a few of our released hatchery (unclipped fish) in the process of finding another hatchery ( but clipped ) fish to keep.
 
As far as I know the Capilano has clipped 100 % of their Coho for the last 4 years I think. Can anyone confirm that ? I will call the hatchery and confirm that figure. I will also try to find out why they clip and some hatcheries don't. My understanding is that it is a matter of manpower/time/money. It is tedious work so even if you have volunteers its quite an undertaking. No one to do it, it won't be done ...but I will find out if thats correct.

Quote from xavier "It was my experience that about 50% of the coho we caught in Renfrew three and four years ago were clipped. This year, it seems like less than 10%. I hope it is because the wilds are making a great comeback! But my suspician is that less and less hatchery fish are being clipped".

I don't think you can make that "wild vs hatchery" ( or hatchery clipped vs hatchery non clipped) conclusion from a few trips . You could catch way more clipped Coho on one trip and then the next trip way less, for many reasons ......one such reason is simple ..you were catching mostly one particular hatchery's fish on one trip (who clip a higher percentage of fish) and the next time you were catching another hatcheries fish which only clip a small percentage . Another reason is the depths you were fishing on each trip may have had a different amount of wild vs hatchery each year at the particular depth you were fishing.....or timing of runs had varying amounts of wild vs hatchery at the times you were fishing.
I think you would need a fair bit more data to determine how things had changed when comparing years.
As far as hatcheries clipping less Coho than a few years ago ....not sure but a bit of research on the American and BC hatcheries practices over the last several years would provide the answer. My understanding is that many American hatcheries are clipping all their chinook now. Anyone want to confirm that one ? It would sure make sense if all hatchery coho were clipped. It is rather silly that we are releasing unclipped Coho we call "wild", that really often are not wild. Risking killing a few of our released hatchery (unclipped fish) in the process of finding another hatchery ( but clipped ) fish to keep.
 
our fishing club was invited to the local hatchery to watch the clipping trailer in action. this is apparently a pretty new way to do clipping. the process is automated, almost entirely, with a few too small and too large fry shunted over to a manual clipper. they were doing about 10,000/shift with 2 people working. needless to say, it was an impressive display of technology doing a tedious time consuming job.
 
our fishing club was invited to the local hatchery to watch the clipping trailer in action. this is apparently a pretty new way to do clipping. the process is automated, almost entirely, with a few too small and too large fry shunted over to a manual clipper. they were doing about 10,000/shift with 2 people working. needless to say, it was an impressive display of technology doing a tedious time consuming job.
 
The Conumo hatchery in Nootka clips between 3 and 5 percent only. And it is stricly a funding thing. They rely on volunteers for the most part but they do have staff clipping fish. I have not problem throwing wild fish back, but it would be nice to know they are wild.

How is it possible that the money from licenses and salmon stamps can't pay for the hatchery programs and clipping fish? Maybe we need to put some pressure on your local MLA in regards to the hatchery program.
 
The Conumo hatchery in Nootka clips between 3 and 5 percent only. And it is stricly a funding thing. They rely on volunteers for the most part but they do have staff clipping fish. I have not problem throwing wild fish back, but it would be nice to know they are wild.

How is it possible that the money from licenses and salmon stamps can't pay for the hatchery programs and clipping fish? Maybe we need to put some pressure on your local MLA in regards to the hatchery program.
 
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