A decades long effort to restore sockeye salmon in the Okanagan reached a new chapter in Vernon Tuesday, May 7.

Young students from Okanagan Landing Elementary and the Okanagan Indian Bandsa国际传媒檚 school took part in the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA)sa国际传媒檚 second annual sockeye fry release ceremony. More than 3,300 sockeye fry were released into Lower Vernon Creek at the Marshall Field dog park.

Students held the small salmon fry in a cup sa国际传媒� covering it with their hand to keep them from jumping out sa国际传媒� and took turns pouring them into the creek.

This year marks two decades of efforts to conserve and restore sockeye salmon populations in the Okanagan, and the fry release provided a direct connection to the salmon reintroduction efforts, while creating new stewards who have an appreciation for the restoration and preservation of salmon and their habitat.

The fry come from the ONAsa国际传媒檚 k艂 cp虛蓹lk虛stim虛 hatchery. Opened in 2014, the 25,000-square-foot hatchery has the capacity to rear eight million eggs.

Tyson Marsel, ONA hatchery biologist, explained that a dam in Penticton has prevented salmon from returning to their many spawning habitats connected to Okanagan Lake, with Lower Vernon Creek being one of those systems.

sa国际传媒淏y reintroducing these fish back into the system where they once used to spawn, we hope that once they return as adults, theysa国际传媒檒l make their way back into these systems to spawn,sa国际传媒� Marsel said.

Marsel said for the past six years, salmon have had access to Okanagan Lake after a passage was created for the fish in Penticton. That passage allows the salmon to spawn in Okanagan Lake, and for the past two years the fish have been able to fully access the entire system and can spawn in multiple tributaries connected to the lake.

In total, ONA will be releasing 1.5 million fish from the hatchery this year.

Marsel said putting fish into the water system is only one piece of the puzzle when it comes to restoring salmon populations. Habitat restoration is equally important, he said.

sa国际传媒淏y the combined work of habitat restoration and putting the fish back into the system, thatsa国际传媒檚 where all the work is going to come together and wesa国际传媒檙e going to slowly rebuild that (salmon) run.sa国际传媒�

The hatchery raises both chinook and sockeye salmon, but its main focus is on restoring sockeye populations. Thatsa国际传媒檚 partly because chinook are very endangered, and the hatchery was only able to capture two female chinook, yielding about 5,500 eggs, whereas they were able to catch more than 600 female sockeye salmon and recover 1.5 million eggs.

Marsel said getting kids involved in the fry release ceremony fulfills one of ONAsa国际传媒檚 goals.

sa国际传媒淲e want to create the next stewards of the land,sa国际传媒� he explained. sa国际传媒淧art of bringing youth to these events is to create that next generation of stewards, where they are going to be the ones creating that future for the salmon. Theysa国际传媒檙e going to be the ones coming as technicians and hatchery biologists.sa国际传媒�

Last year was ONAsa国际传媒檚 first sockeye salmon fry release into Lower Vernon Creek, with roughly 120,000 fish.

A similar fry release was held at Shingle Creek in Penticton last week, and more releases will soon take place at Kelownasa国际传媒檚 Mission Creek, Six Mile Creek by the OKIB Fire Hall, Castlegar, Slocan, Revelstoke, Spallumcheen and more. The dates and times for each release can be found on ONAsa国际传媒檚 syilx.org/events/fry-releases/.

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