N'Quatqua

The Gates Creek Spawning Channel

Special channels have been constructed by the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission to improve and increase the spawing areas for sockeye and pink salom at selected locations in the Fraser River system. The sockeye spawning channel at Gates Creek, completed in 1968, is located at the head of the Seton-Anderson lake system in southwest Columbia.

 

 

 

 

Spawning Channel Was Built in 1968

The Gates Creek spawing channel was constructed in time for use by the 1968 dominant cycle run. The land was made available by lease from the Anderson Lake Indian Band. The channel is 6.205 feet long by 20 feet wide and provides 13,500 square yards of gravel spawning bed, to accommodate 18,000 sockeye spawniners. Because of porous subsoil, the channel is lined with plastic sheet to prevent leakage. A 16-inch layer of clean 1/2 to 4-inch gravel covering the plastic forms the spawning bed. and the side slopes were covered with large stones. Asteady flow of 40 cfs supplied from the screened intake in Gates Creek provides 16 inches of water depth at a velocity of 1.5 fps. The water suppy from the creek first passes through a settling basin to remove suspended sediments, as thses would clog the pores in the gravel and reduce the survival of eggs. An auxiliary water supply of 10 cfs is pumped from 200 feet deep in Anderson Lake through an 18-inch pipeline to the upper end of the channel. This water during spawning, and to melt ice at the intake during severe winter conditions. The construction cost of the channel was $307,000.