The Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to sustaining and building salmon stocks in local waterways and facilitating public education regarding salmonid habitat and life cycles.
About Our Organization
The Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society aims to assist, encourage, and promote salmonid enhancement in the streams of the Sunshine Coast and to provide educational services to the public regarding salmonids.
Currently our yearly salmon production numbers at the hatchery for each species is up to, 50,000 Coho, 70,000 Chinook, 90,000 Chum and 250,000 Pink salmon, Pink’s are only enhanced here in the odd numbered years (2021, 2023 etc..). These numbers are the maximum we produce in a given year for release into Chapman creek to supplement the wild salmon population the creek produces. Pink and Chum salmon migrate to the ocean as fry shortly after leaving the incubation stage in the early spring. Chinook migrate out to the ocean 2 to 6 months after incubation, in the late spring. The Coho stay for a whole year before they migrate to the ocean. The incubation stage for all species is typically from 4 to 6 months depending on water temperatures, early fall to into the late spring.
In 2023 we are working to release pink salmon fry and Coho smolts into Chapman Creek. There they will then make their way out to the ocean to continue their life cycle until they return to spawn in the years ahead.
The hatchery could not operate on the scale that it does without the tremendous efforts of the community, the Chapman Creek Hatchery volunteers, and our two staff. We are always looking for new volunteers, and more information can be found here. Most of all, we could not sustain our production numbers without the on-going donations of time, gifts-in-kind, and cash from many sources such as our members, the general public, SCRD and the District of Sechelt, SC Credit Union, and many local businesses.
We would like to thank and acknowledge the following organizations for their support through grants.
