They are all gone!
60,000 juvenile salmon were released from the hatchery today. The full moon today (20th June) has given optimum conditions for the release with the Rangitata river very close to the McKinnon's creek discharge point. The fish were around 65gms. The release went well and by days end, some fish were seen entering the river proper.

Due to lower numbers of fertilised eggs available we have only been able to distribute around 41,000 eyed ova away from the hatchery this year so far. 20,000 of these went to a remote incubator on              3 Springs stream at Kimble. Richard Davidson and his Opihi team set the incubator up and will keep an eye on them until they hatch out and get strong enough to leave the incubator. 

The remaining 21,000 went to the Rangitata South Irrigation Ltd salmon spawning race at Arundel in 2 incubators. We are hopeful that both these sites will produce many salmon fry to populate these rivers.