Kokanee on the comeback

Photo: Contributed

Kokanee are doing swimmingly in area lakes, according to the provincial government.

Numbers for the land-locked salmon in main Okanagan lakes are increasing, a fall 2015 survey shows.

The Wood Lake kokanee population continued to demonstrate signs of recovery after poor in-lake conditions led to a significant increase in mortality rates in 2011.

In 2015, more than 20,000 kokanee returned to spawn to Middle Vernon Creek, the main tributary of Wood Lake. That's a more than two-fold increase from previous years.

Given the high numbers, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations will continue to allow a fishery on Wood Lake from April 1 to Aug. 31.

Results from spawner surveys of Okanagan shorelines and tributaries show:

• Okanagan Lake kokanee spawners totalled 336,500, an increase from 80,500 last year – and the highest return since annual counts began in 1992.
• The large return was primarily a result of an increase in shore-spawning kokanee.
• Stream-spawning kokanee totalled 31,500.
• Shore-spawning kokanee totalled 305,000 fish.

In Kalamalka Lake, Kokanee numbers totalled 36,500, well above the 10-year average return of 20,000.

Kokanee are land-locked sockeye salmon found in all of the Okanagan main valley lakes.