Halton Regional Salmon and Trout Association, Along with the ministry Salmon Penning

The MNR keeps the big pails full

The kids are as proud as punch to deliver them to the pens.

Into the pens they go

Thank you everyone for the help and great turn out to keep our fishery healthy.

Love your enthusiasm.
Sad part is this is so much better if the salmon we’re introduced way up river. Imprinting naturally and feeding naturally.
The MNR used do this with great success but changed their imprinting to harbours. Why is this? I have my opinions but opinions are like butt holes right.

Great work capturing day!

Thanks Disco.

I think it is for a better survival rate.....they are dragged out into the lake after a month in the harbour to avoid the predators.

Arnie

Thx Bigoldd...it was a lot of fun.

Arnie

Great pics and awesome to see the young ones getting involved !

Disco is spot on with having stock fish imprinting starting in upper parts of a river in an environment where they would be naturally born.

Rivers condition fish far better than having them go from a hatchery, to a truck, into a net for pictures in this case, to some buckets, then eventually placed down a shoot into a small holding pen for a month.

Then "if" they make it as juvenile fragile fish, all the handling (removing their slime, compromising the immune system) and added environmental stress with varying transporting/water temps, they get released into a middle of a massive water body that I would " butt hole "guess a much higher mortality rate.

This harbor pen method appears more like pond stocking with little chance of fish returning to spawn up rivers vs fish that have better river imprinting from the start.....just a few thoughts