A project to increase salmon numbers in the Waitaki River has received a boost with a grant from the Community Trust of Otago to the Waitaki Riparian Enhancement Society.
The society has received $4500 as it hatches its first salmon eggs at McKinnon's Hatchery.
These will later this year be transferred to a rearing race at Bells Pond, on the north bank of the river, to be grown on before being released late next year or early the following year.
Society chairman Brent Packman said yesterday the society was also about to build a hatchery on Welcome Stream, on the south side of the river, using contractor supervision and voluntary labour.
The hatchery building, which would include solar panels to power incubators and raising trays, would be ready for harvesting salmon next season.
The society, which has about 200 members, was formed in April last year after a public meeting to discuss how to improve salmon numbers, which had fallen in recent years.
That led to the formation of the trust, the identification of a raceway at Bell's Pond suitable for rearing salmon and establishing a hatchery on Welcome Stream.
Salmon were harvested from the Hakataramea River earlier this year and brought to Welcome Stream where they were stripped, eggs being sent to the McKinnon's Hatchery.
Mr Packman said they now had 10,000 fingerlings hatched and ready to be transferred to trays. Once at a suitable size, they would be brought to the race at Bell's Pond, probably early October.
Because this was the first season, Mr Packman was unsure how quickly they would grow and other factors which would influenced their release, but estimated the earliest would be late next year.
Fins would be clipped for anglers to record when the salmon returned, providing data on the success of the programme.
