Going big!

[Modest_Man]

I don't post on here much anymore but thought I'd share some work related photos.

Just like a personal aquarium but on steroids. Aquarium design and building is a life long skill!

We will be acclimating ~70,000 spring chinook for release in a few weeks.

The "tank" is just shy of 30,000 gallons. Pump runs about 650 gallons per minute ($600 a month). Plumbing is 6" PVC and flexhose. We have 4 oxygen tanks and a diesel generator for backup in case of a power outage.

 

[gangster]

Very cool! More pics please

 

[dazzapolypterusweeksii]

Great project looking forward to being done

 

[xander]

damn whats it for

 

[Hendre]

damn whats it for

70,000 spring chinook for release in a few weeks.

Big pond looking thing for sure, could we get more details?

 

[Modest_Man]

Sorry for the late reply, I don't get on all that much any more.

These ponds (there are three) are for acclimating juvenile hatchery spring chinook. The eggs are fertilized in a hatchery and the fish are then raised at the hatchery until they are ready to undergo smoltification (head to the ocean). We then transport them to these ponds where they are raised for the last two weeks before they out-migrate. This allows them to key in on specific water chemistry and return to the specific acclimation sites as adults. This helps spread the hatchery fish throughout the river basin and allow for more angler harvest vs. them all darting right back up to the hatchery and not benefiting anyone (aka not getting caught and eaten). In total there are about 650,000 fish released from the ponds over the span of a month and a half. If we are lucky we'll see about 1% return as adults.

 

[Hendre]

There was an interesting article on the addition of hiding space and environmental enrichment that improved the survival rate of these fish that I found interesting

 

[Modest_Man]

I don't have any more photos of the acclimation ponds, but can get more.

Here are a couple recent photos from out in the field.

Anyone know what the fish I am holding is?

 

[Modest_Man]

 

[cockroach]

Anyone know what the fish I am holding is?

Is that a juvie lamprey?

Fantastic work. Great to see people helping the environment and putting some thought into it.