Inside the Hatchery: BC's Last-Ditch Fight to Save the Fraser Sockeye

The numbers came in on a Tuesday morning in October, and they were worse than anyone had predicted. Of the estimated 1.2 million sockeye salmon expected to return to the Fraser River that season, fewer than 180,000 had been counted at the Mission hydroacoustic station.

For the biologists at the Harrison River Hatchery, the news meant one thing: they had perhaps four days to harvest as many eggs as possible before the season was over. A Sitka Media documentary crew was there for all of it.

"What we do here in the next 72 hours will determine whether there is a viable run in four years," said hatchery manager Dr. Priya Banerjee, pulling on waders at 5:30 in the morning. "No pressure."

The three-week documentary, which will stream on our Watch channel beginning December 1st, follows Banerjee's team through the harvest, the fertilization process, and the months of careful incubation that follow.

It is a story about science under pressure, about the collision of climate change and ecological collapse, and about the people who have dedicated their careers to a fish that BC's identity — and the food security of dozens of First Nations — depends upon. We think it's some of the best work we've ever done.