The Babine Lake Salmon Development Program Progress Report, 1968

Studies conducted by the Fisheries Research Board of Canada have indicated that sockeye fry densities are consistently lower in the main basin than in North Arm, despite similar densities of planktonic organisms. Basic productivity, as measured by the carbon- 14 in situ method, is at least as high, on a per unit area basis, in the main basin as in the North Arm. This evidence suggests that the lower sockeye density in the main basin is due not to a limited food supply but to limited fry production by its tributary streams. The Resource Development Branch of the Department of Fisheries of Canada embarked, in 1965, on a major program of artificial spawning channel construction coupled with flow control to increase fry production in spawning streams tributary to the main basin. The streams selected were Fulton River and Pinkut Creek. This report deals with the progress which has been made in the construction and evaluation of the Babine Lake Sockeye Salmon Development Program up to March 31, 1968.