By all accounts more wild Salmon came in to the Rangitata in November/December this season than has been the case for the last few years. Unfortunately the river was a bit clouded for good fishing and they got well up river before the river cleared. 
More fish have returned to the hatchery as well and so far we have had around 25 through the trap. This is many more than last year. We have got our fingers crossed that we have bottomed out in terms of poor returns. With our land based brood stock and fish that have returned, we should reach our goal of 110,000 fry for this year. This will still be a challenge for our small band of dedicated volunteers but we are still all passionate about the project. We need help, if anyone is available please let us know. Call 0274422454 if this plea finds favor with you or someone you may know. 

We have 6000 almost yearling fry ready to release back to the river however 500 of these will be used to test the by-pass at the new RDR fish screen. These will be released up river and checked once they have passed the screen to check that they have got passed un-damaged. Its in all our interests to make sure this by-pass is working effectively. The scheme should be commissioned around September by all accounts.

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The few hatchery volunteers that we have are once again facing a busy year with the prospect of reasonable numbers of fish returning to the hatchery to be part of the program along with 3 year old brood stock fish held at the hatchery. Help at the hatchery has waned in the last couple of years which can be put down to negative comments from a few individuals and the fact that our helpers are all getting on in years and the continued commitment is taking its toll. 
The hatchery at McKinnon's creek was set up initially to bring more salmon back to the Rangitata river, and others, for anglers to catch and this remains true today. Unfortunately returns to the hatchery have dwindled in the past few years along with salmon in other Canterbury rivers and this has also contributed to volunteers deciding not to carry on. This of course is understandable however the upshot is that we either shut up shop altogether or urgently attract more passionate individuals to help with the day to day running of the hatchery.
The McKinnon's Creek hatchery has a future and there are a number of possibilities down the track that will secure this, but we must have more help. A new volunteer recently to the hatchery when asked why he came out to help stated that anyone doing something to help save the salmon run, is worth supporting. A great sentiment. 
At present we have around 6000 fish to release later in the year when ideal conditions prevail. These fish were fin clipped a few days ago. Many thanks to those who were asked and came along to help.

A big thanks also to those individuals who helped with the Winnemem Wintu Salmon sampling program last winter. This program was to help with genetic matching of salmon in NZ for the North American First nation people and done in conjunction with CSI Fish & Game. The tribe made a financial donation to our hatchery for our help which was gratefully received and we have communicated to them our thanks.

If anyone can help us in the future please contact Phil (0274422454) or Alan (033392139). Helpers need to be relatively close to the area (Timaru - Ashburton) and be prepared to travel to the hatchery on the lower Rangitata river, South side. Full training will be given and an interesting and worthwhile experience is assured. 

Its been a while since the last update however things have progressed well at the hatchery under the expert help of our much reduced team. Covid has forced us to do things a bit different this year with a reduced number of visits and a smaller team. All the fish are doing well, that includes the 8000 rising 1 year olds, and the remainder of 2 and 3 year old fish.
We fitted a new vacuum head in the raceways during the winter which is much lighter, easier to handle and more effective so that now works well.
Mt Cook Salmon kindly donated us some material they have used on walkways etc and we have put the material to good use, covering our bridges and walkways. This makes walking on these sometimes damp areas much safer. see photos.
​Parts of McKinnon's Creek have been refenced to allow for DOC plantings in the riparian areas to try to reduce farm run off into the stream.
Our old van, donated by "I Pave Ltd" has nearly given up the ghost and we are on the lookout for something to replace it. Given that we are all volunteers, we would be grateful if someone had something surplus to requirements that we could use that they might like to donate. It saves everyone's cars etc getting stuck in mud and covered in you know what across the farm. We could certainly come to some arrangement with any likely donator.   Phone Phil. 0274422454 with any ideas.   (Click to enlarge photos)

A quick update on hatchery happenings. Firstly a big thank you to all those who have helped/supported the hatchery over the past 12 months. We are at a crossroads for the hatchery and the future looks a little brighter with some interesting plans being discussed. More on that later when plans become clear.

To date this year;

We have had a continual presence at the hatchery over the winter so far.
All fish (1 year old) have been released. Total around 60,000 give or take. Last release fish moved away very quickly and river was in good order.
As of today, river is on the hatchery side and flowing directly past McKinnon's creek outlet.
A number of reeds noted in McKinnon's creek.
Our compliance with the consent for the hatchery was checked recently by ECan and apart from a couple of minor issues was passed as compliant. An SOP will be issued shortly containing all aspects of hatchery operations,
No further decisions on looking after broodstock in the future as yet but discussions on going.
All trays in incubators hatched out and 2 of the trays of zipped up fry (5000) have been put in tank 2 inside. Thanks to Graham for getting feeders up and running.
We have cancelled the weekend teams for the present and will cover the cleaning with the winter teams visit twice per week however anyone welcome to come along with them (normally tuesday and friday/saturday). Contact Phil or Dave Chambers.
Mark Webb from F&G is working through an SOP manual for the hatchery. This should be out soon.
Nitrate reading in the creek getting pretty high. 8.49.
Looks like a lot of the willow wands planted out on the river in front of hatchery might have been taken out in last flood. 
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For those who are on the weekend teams, there has been a whiteboard installed on the inside of the 1st container door. On this white board are the current instructions for what jobs are required including the current food sizes being fed in each feeder. This should make the weekend duties clearer for everyone.

There are also some photos posted of progress on the RDR fish screen. Work is well under way and it should be operating by Sept 2022. 

We had a successful working bee on 4th June to have a bit of a clean up after the recent flooding in the area. McKinnon's creek had over flowed just above the hatchery site and flowed down the track, through the sheds etc and over the raceways. No fish were lost, just mud and scouring everywhere. Thanks to everybody who turned up. Click photos to enlarge

The Hatchery group (SRST) had their AGM on Thursday 13th May at the Fish and Game rooms in Temuka.

A very good meeting was held. The Chairman's report was received as was the Financial statement. The accounts are in a healthy position. The election of Officer's resulted in 2 new members being elected to the Committee. Welcome to John Manning and Dave Chambers. Others elected were;
Phil deJoux. Chairman
Alan Brooks. Treasurer
Paul Centofanti. Secretary.
Bill and Linda Whipp, Chris deJoux, Dennis Laplanche, Fred Reddicliffe, Graham Parnell, Grant Rooney, Jackie Manning, Rob and Raylene Clarke, Richard Davidson, Ross Edmonstone and Rex Hobbs.

Briefly;
Salmon catch counted on South side 37. North side 22. Worst season in history.
Only about 20 returns to hatchery so far, this is accounted for by nil release 3 years ago.
Essential that hatchery must carry on, some good signs on horizon.
Significant return of 2 year old fish could bode well for 2022 year.
2 largest known fish caught for season were McKinnons tagged fish.
​Hatchery in discussion with Fish and Game.

Thanks were extended to all those who supported the hatchery over the year including those who sponsored concrete blocks for creek protection, North side hutholders, Rangitata Good buggers group, and various other individuals and groups.

Richard Davidson gave a talk and slides on trout fishing in the Central North Island.

Around 25,000 fish were released in the 2nd annual release in April. The river was in a small fresh and conditions were good.

To date we have fin clipped 46,000 yearlings over 2 days and released 20,000 of these. Many thanks to all those who helped, we couldn't possibly do it all without the continued support of all our volunteers. Some photos of the two days are included. click to enlarge.