Hatchery to boost river's salmon stock | Oamaru News | Local News in Oamaru

The Waitaki River salmon fishery has fallen on hard times.

Latest Fish & Game figures show the catch for the last six seasons has been pitiful compared to the boom years of the nineties.

Flooding in the last two years has prevented accurate measurement of the salmon by redd (nest) or live fish counts. However, angler success surveys suggest between 220 and 490 salmon were caught last year. In the 1993-94 season, the number was close to 3500.

Fortunately a group of concerned anglers are helping the salmon recover.

The Waitaki Riparian Enhancement Society was formed last March to help develop the fishery.

Repairing the former ICI/Watties Bell's Pond hatchery is first on the list.

"We've planned a lot of things and have costed these out," steering committee chairman Jack Chandra said.

The society has received consent to build a bridge across the race, but still needed to sort out resource consents for the incubation site and the raceways.

It will require consents to take and discharge water for both sites, and possibly a land use consent for the raceway.

Costs will then become a factor. Funding needs to be secured for the project.

Mr Chandra said the society had applied for funding from Meridian Energy but that this had yet to come through.

The raceway was very overgrown but the society had cleared it out ready for work to begin.

Purchasing the brood stock and food would be a major cost, as would transporting stock to the site.

Despite this, Mr Chandra was hopeful the hatchery could be opened soon.

"If everything comes right we could be having salmon smolts in the channels next year."

Mark Webb, of Fish & Game, agreed. "We're hoping it will be ready by the end of the salmon season," he said.

Mr Webb warned there were "a lot of little small issues" that would accompany the project, but said these would not be insurmountable.

The society hopes to emulate the success of the volunteer-run McKinnons Creek hatchery on the Rangitata River. Members visited the site to see how it had been set up.

The 100,000 smolts released into the Waitaki River from Bell's Pond would significantly boost fish numbers.

Mr Chandra said this was badly needed. "I didn't get any [salmon] last year," he said.

"I had to go to Dunedin harbour to get my fish."