Lang Bay Hatchery and Nature Garden
by David Bedry, 17 October 2021
We met at Lang creek on a drizzly morning where we were met by Phil and Tesarlatwo of the hatchery’s staff. With our overnight down pour they had been up all night. They had been monitoring the rising creek levels and keeping the water intake for the building free of debris.
Phil gave an introductory talk about the facility. It is where eggs and milt are harvested from the fish. The eggs and milt are then transported to the hatchery which is at the paper mill. Four species return to Lang creek. Pink salmon are left to spawn on their own while chinook, coho and chum are sorted and stored in the egg take collection building. Eggs are harvested when the eggs mature for the different species. Chinook mature first followed by the chum and then the coho.
All the fish are diverted through the building where a count of the fish occurs. After the eggs and milt of selected fish of each species are collected, the rest of the fish in storage are released back to the creek to continue their trip up the creek to spawn on their own.
Micheal Stewart then gave a talk on the Native Plant Garden which is beside the parking lot. A recent donation from Powell River Community Forest allowed the Naitive plant society to install new plant identification signs.