Coquille River S.T.E.P.

Hatcheries

Cunningham Creek Salmon Hatchery

The Cunningham Creek Hatchery is a cooperative venture with students from Coquille High School, Coquille Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program (STEP), and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.  Its principle focus is to provide unique, educational opportunities for K-12 students to experience learning about native salmonid species and the various aspects of Fisheries Management within the Coquille Watershed.

The Cunningham Creek Salmon Hatchery, located on the Coquille High School campus, began as an educational project in 1987 when salmon eggs were first brought to the campus and incubated in the old high school greenhouse.  The program and the facilities have continued to expand and improve since that time.

Today, not only has the greenhouse been replaced with an incubation building, but the hatchery also has an acclimation and recapture facility located in Cunningham Creek adjacent to the hatchery facility.  This facility provides students with the opportunity to capture and spawn salmon that return to the facility.  The 1997-98 school year marked the first year that fish that were originally reared at the facility, returned to Cunningham Creek and were spawned, eggs incubated and fry reared until their release back the creek.   This process was done entirely by student volunteers.

The hatchery program provides numerous educational opportunities related to salmon and watersheds for students at Coquille High School and surrounding schools as well.  The program has been a tremendous success in terms of the thousands of students that have been taught natural resource and conservation awareness.  In addition to the educational goals of the hatchery, the production of salmon for the improvement of recreational  fisheries on the Coquille River is likewise being accomplished.

Each year, over 10,000 Chinook salmon eggs are incubated and the fry reared until they are released as pre-smolts in the early summer.  Another 10,000 or more Coho fry are reared in cooperation with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.  These fish are released as un-fed fry into the neighboring creeks to help rebuild salmon runs that had previously been eliminated due to industrial or agricultural development over 50 years ago.

COQUILLE HIGH SCHOOL RESPONSIBILITIES

General Responsibilities

1. Responsible entity for all fish trapping, egg incubation, rearing and release of salmonid’s.
2. Responsible entity for all equipment, material and supplies associated with the hatchery.
3. Directly accountable to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for all fish culturing decisions and for the performing of all hatchery management responsibilities.
4. Directly accountable to Coquille River STEP for all financial requests and expenditures.

Specific Responsibilities

1. Hatchery Facility Preparations in Fall.

Setting up the floating aerators in preparation for the acclimation of fall smolts.

Setting up the incubation troughs with riffle tins.

1. Fish Trapping Operations

Setting up the fish trapping gates in the fall.

Working the trap, sorting adults, spawning of fish.

1. Maintain the hatchery facility during the week.   Activities include:

Adjusting water flows

Cleaning of rearing troughs, riffle tins, and hatchery baskets

Cleaning trap racks

Cleaning pump intake screens every other day.

Keeping hatchery logbooks up to date.

Maintaining the community calendar and bulletin board

Posting of Emergency Response methods for fish culturing.

Submission of a monthly “Hatchery Happenings” report to STEP and ODFW

1. Fish Incubation and Rearing.  Activities include:

Supervising and monitoring of all activities related to egg incubation

Placement of eggs in baskets and hatching trays.

Water quality is monitored and posted weekly.

Maintenance of Fish Feeder and feeding of fish.

Cleaning of rearing troughs daily.

Removal of flood sediments from the trap building

Trap building materials and equipment clean and organized.

Maintaining a sanitary interior hatchery facility

Floors hosed and swept daily

All counters, cabinets, and drawers cleaned and organized

Walls, counters, and cabinets cleaned and painted.

1. Educational Activities

Organizing and conducting educational tours (Tour Tuesdays)

Construction of interpretive displays

Maintenance of hatchery laboratory equipments

Maintenance of educational aquaria.

Construction of signs to assist STEP volunteers in proper fish culturing techniques.

1. Record Keeping

Submission of Report of Operations to Coquille STEP and ODFW annually.

1. Grounds Keeping

Mowing, weeding, trimming, planting of native plants.

Removal of brush.

Coquille River STEP Responsibilities

General  Responsibilities

1. Responsible entity for facility operations on weekends, holidays and non-school days.
2. Responsible entity for all electrical, plumbing, pumps, water flow emergency back-up and alarm systems associated with the hatchery.
3. Responsible for all emergency operations associated with alarm systems and water flow.
4. Directly accountable to Coquille School District Administration and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for all actions and performances related to student/volunteer interactions and hatchery management responsibilities.

Specific Responsibilities

• Appointing a Hatchery Operations Facilitator who will serve as a contact person between the Coquille High School (CHS) and the ODFW.
  • Responsible for maintaining email contact with ODFW and CHS
  • Appointing and training hatchery volunteers
  • Maintenance of hatchery facility on weekends, holidays, and non-school days.
    • Feeding of fish by following all established and posted guidelines.
    • Switching pumps and adjusting water flow as needed.
    • Daily cleaning of fish trap racks.
    • Cleaning of fish trap racks.
    • Checking alarm and emergency back-up systems operations.
    • Recording all work performed in Hatchery Work Logbook.
    • Developing an emergency call list emergency response for STEP volunteers.  This includes the following activities:
      • Setting up the emergency response equipment each fall.
      • Posting of a current emergency STEP volunteers phone list in the hatchery.
      • Providing annual training in pump operations, emergency generator operations, weekly back-up and alarm systems maintenance checks, and water flow operaions.
      • Responding to all alarms and emergencies at any time.
      • Responsible for all hatchery work related to electrical wiring, plumbing, and pump operations.
      • Responsible for all major repairs and construction projects after prior consultation with Coquille High School and ODFW.
      • Providing financial assistance to Coquille High School for conducting fish culturing and hatchery maintenance operations.
      • Assisting students upon request for specific hatchery operations.

Special Considerations:  See Coquille School District Volunteer Approval Policy

1. All Volunteers working on campus must complete a Coquille School District volunteer approval form available at the front office of the High School.  Requires a criminal background check to made PRIOR to approval for working on campus.
2. All volunteers must check in with the front office and receive a visitor’s pass PRIOR to being on campus or working at the hatchery during school hours: 7:30AM to 4:30PM.
3. Smoking and tobacco products are prohibited on campus and hatchery grounds.
4. Profanity, lewd comments, racial or discriminatory comments or jokes are inappropriate and prohibited when working with students in this professional setting.
5. Firearms are not allowed on campus grounds.  This includes in personal vehicles.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Responsibilities

General Responsibilities

1. The ODFW is to facilitate communication between Coquille High School and the Coquille River STEP Association.
2. Help to secure and provide funding for the Cunningham Creek Salmon Hatchery.
3. Provide guidance and information related to fish culture and hatchery operations.

Specific Responsibilities

• Participate in monthly Coquille River STEP board meetings.
• Provide funding or equipment and supplies needed for hatchery operations.
• Purchase and deliver appropriate quantities and sizes of feed.
• Provide and deliver salmonids eggs for rearing in addition to those obtained directly through trapping at the facility.
• Plan and assist in annual fin clipping operations.
• Submit fish samples for analysis.
• Complete all required state and agency reports
• Provide information needed for hatchery operations.

Completed Hatchery Egg Transfer Forms provided with delivered eggs

Release sites and quantities of fish to be released.

Bandon Fish Hatchery

Bandon Hatchery is located one mile east of the City of Bandon.  The hatchery water  supply is obtained from two sources: Ferry Creek and Geiger Creek. Bandon hatchery was constructed in 1925 and facility operations are funded by the State of Oregon.  Various renovations have taken place since construction and recent construction includes a new anadromous fish trapping facility, new water intake on Ferry Creek and new intake screens on Geiger Creek.  The facility is used for adult collection, egg incubation and rearing of both natural and hatchery fall chinook, coho, and winter steelhead.

Program Type

The ODFW Hatchery Management Policy defines hatchery programs as either harvest or conservation programs.  Harvest programs operate to enhance or maintain fisheries without impairing naturally reproducing populations.  Conservation programs operate to maintain or increase the number of naturally produced fish without reducing the productivity of naturally reproducing populations.  Bandon Hatchery programs are harvest programs, used for the augmentation of fishing and harvest opportunities.

Fall Chinook

Coquille River (044) Stock:

1. to provide hatchery fish for recreational and commercial harvest that are genetically and ecologically similar to wild populations, while minimizing and potential adverse impacts to the wild population of this species or other species.
2. to increase student awareness of salmonid biology, life history, and their habitat requirements, through the educational component of the program.
3. to mitigate for the removal of wild fish from the population for the broodstock program through incubation and release of unfed fry at locations in the upper portion of the basin.

Winter Steelhead

Coquille River (044) Stock: to provide fish primarily for angler harvest that are genetically and ecologically similar to wild populations to minimize any potential to wild populations in the Coquille River Basin.   The unfed fry program is used to establish populations of steelhead in unseeded habitats in the Coquille Basin, primarily those with corrected passage barriers.

South Fork Coquille River (144) Stock: to provide fish primarily for angler harvest that are genetically and ecologically similar to wild populations to minimize any potential to wild populations in the S. Fork Coquille River system.   The unfed fry program is used to establish populations of steelhead in unseeded habitats in the Coquille Basin, primarily those with corrected passage barriers.

Rainbow Trout:  Produce trophy-sized triploid trout.

Objective

Fall Chinook

Coquille River (044) Stock:

Provide 170,000 eyed eggs to Butte Falls Hatchery

Provide 139000 eyed eggs to STEP

Winter Steelhead:

Coquille River (044) Stock:

Provide 50,000 eyed eggs to STEP

Produce 20,000 smolts for release into East Fork Coquille River

Produce 25,000 smolts for release into the N. Fork Coquille River.

S. Fork Coquille River (144) Stock:

Provide 20,000 eggs for STEP

Produce 70,000 smollts for release into the S. Fork Coquille River system.

Hatch Boxes

Powers Hatch box           operated by Willie Shorb and Phil Wolcott

North Fork Hatch box     operated by Archery Flood