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.

Those who attended a recent presentation by RDRMLtd on the proposed fish screen for the intake of the Rangitata Diversion Race on the Rangitata river would have been pleasantly surprised at the proposal and the commitment by the company to begin work as soon as possible. According to management 2021 will see pre-construction works (concrete elements) started, supply of all fish screen elements, development of fish capture and testing methods finalized, validation of design work completed and construction start - August 2021.
This is good news at last and progress will be closely watched by anglers and supporters of the river.

​The presentation (Power point) has been attached here for those interested persons and those who could not make it to the meeting where the it was presented. Opportunities for any questions to be answered can be directed through to <phil.dejoux@xtra.co.nz>
Click on the file to open it. It may take a while to download and you may have to have power point on your device.

It has been decided to realign the hatchery side of the by-pass stream to stop the erosion of the bank and prevent it from cutting into the site. The existing Gabion baskets have collapsed and water is seeping through and causing problems. The solution appears to be the placement of large rectangular concrete blocks which will give strength and stability to the bank and prevent water seepage.

​We are asking interested people and supporters to help us by sponsoring one or a number of these blocks thereby helping us complete the job in the next few months. It is a big job and around 70 blocks are required. The cost of each block is $35.00, so one can see how hard it would be for us as a volunteer group to manage on a limited budget. We are hoping there are a number of good folk who care about the hatchery and who would be prepared to help us. We have started on a small part of the stream and the system works well. The job will be completed next year.
Those wishing to help can contact a member of the hatchery group or make a deposit to the "Salmon & Riparian Support trust bank account. (ANZ Bank number 06-0889-0265272-00). Please tag the donation to "concrete block" with a name, or number, for a receipt to be sent. We will be very grateful for any donations received.

An update as to Hatchery happenings to date. soo

Approx 44,000 fingerlings have been transferred from the inside shed to the South raceway outside. They will have more capacity to grow in the outside raceway and will reman there until release.

The remainder have been spread out among the inside tanks. We plan to fin clip these inside fish quite soon and release them in January. We plan to release the fish in stages with the next release somewhere around March and the final group in June or around that time. There are about 60,000 fish (give or take) to release this season.