Manitowoc children watch on as thousands of Coho Salmon are transported to the Manitowoc River by the NEWGLSF
As a part of their continued effort to keep the salmon population thriving, the Northeast Wisconsin Great Lakes Sports Fishermen released 11,000 Coho Salmon into the Manitowoc River this week.
The group gathered at the Lincoln Park Zoo, where the fish are kept and raised all year round.
Marty Gregory, who was running the operation, noted that they received this batch of salmon last June, “and they were about an inch and a half long, and weighed about 400 to the pound. They are now about 7 inches long, and there’s probably 14 to the pound.”
He also said that this program is vital to the survival rate of the species.
“In nature, maybe 2% will make it to adulthood and spawn,” he revealed. “By raising them up to 7 to 9 inches, the survival rate is probably about 15 to 20%.”
Gregory explained that the 70,000-gallon tank is fed 65 gallons of water a minute from a 60-foot deep on-site well with the overflow going into the Little Manitowoc River or to the Zoo for its ponds and streams.
This process goes on all year long, including in the frigid cold of winter.
“By the time the temperature of the water gets down to freezing, we have pumped another 5,000 to 6,000 gallons in there, and the water comes out of the well at 44 degrees,” Gregory explained. “Even when it’s 13 below 0, the surface of the water doesn’t freeze.”
The salmon were loaded into a pair of transport trucks and released into the river at Manitou Park. Gregory tells Seehafer News that they boast a survival rate of just shy of 100%, with any deaths being completely natural.
The next batch of 10,000 fish will be brought to the zoo to start the process all over again.
