(Whitehorse) – Whitehorse City Council has voted in favour of a proposal to expand Yukon Energy’s fish hatchery in Riverdale. The approval will allow the energy corporation to purchase a small parcel of land adjacent to the existing property so that it can set up more fish tanks.
“The hatchery was initially built to accommodate the rearing of Chinook salmon fry for release back into the Yukon River,” Yukon Energy’s Director of Resource Planning Hector Campbell explained. “In more recent years the program was expanded to freshwater species of fish for use in stocking pothole lakes. Now that we have the go-ahead for the expansion, we can work with the Yukon government’s fisheries branch on a plan to maintain sufficient numbers of freshwater species.”
While Yukon Energy owns the facility, it is co-managed and co-funded by the Yukon Department of the Environment.
“The hatchery program has been very successful in terms of providing additional fishing opportunities for Yukon residents, as well as diversifying the species available for fishing in pothole lakes,” Chief of Fisheries Management Don Toews said. “We’ve had tremendous positive feedback from the public, and this expansion will allow us to maintain and improve the program.”
Yukon Energy will purchase the 17 by 30 metre parcel of land from the Yukon government for the appraised value of $13,500. It will extend the existing fencing and begin to prepare the lot for three new tanks which are to be installed next spring.
The expansion will not affect access to the Millennium Trail.
The fish hatchery was built in the early 1980s to compensate for the loss of fish through the Whitehorse Rapids facility. Along with Chinook salmon, bull trout, Kokanee, char, lake trout and rainbow trout are now reared at the hatchery.
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Contact:
Janet Patterson
Communications, Yukon Energy Corporation
(867) 393-5333
janet.patterson@yec.yk.ca
Don Toews
Chief, Fisheries Management Branch
Government of Yukon
(867) 667-5117
don.toews@gov.yk.ca
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