The federal government is investing more than $50 million in the construction of three salmon hatcheries in British Columbia as part of efforts to support the conservation of the province’s salmon populations.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the three projects will either be located on traditional First Nations territory or operated by a local First Nation.
The largest investment is a $38 million contract for the construction of the Upper Fraser River Salmon Conservation Hatchery near the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser rivers in Prince George, B.C. The facility will be built within the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation.
Ottawa has also awarded two contracts worth approximately $7.5 million each. One will support the construction of a hatchery near Hanceville, in B.C.’s central Interior, while the other will finance the next phase of the Wilp’Ho Dix Hatchery in the Skeena River system in northwestern British Columbia.
In a statement, Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson said the federal government will own and operate the Upper Fraser hatchery. Operations at the Wilp’Ho Dix Hatchery, meanwhile, will be shared with the Gitanyow First Nation.
The Hanceville hatchery is located on the traditional territory of the Tŝilhqot’in First Nation and will be operated by the nation once construction is complete.
Together, the three facilities are expected to have the capacity to raise more than one million juvenile Chinook and sockeye salmon each year.
