Milking the Chum in Basil Creek

The numbers are not in yet, but there are enough returning Chum in Basil Creek to justify milking them for eggs. A group of nine Klahoose employees and Cortes Island Streamkeepers carried this out on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.

No one wished to comment at this time.

Checking a female’s belly to see if it has already spawned out (milking at top of page)

Both male and female salmon are caught. Females who are believed to have already ‘spawned out’ are immediately released. Those with full bellies are killed and their eggs milked.

The eggs will be taken to the Klahoose hatchery and fry later released back into the creek.

In a previous interview, Cec Robinson explained that a far higher proportion of eggs survive when humans harvest them. However this is not carried out unless the run is sufficiently large.

This year’s run is believed to primarily be made up of fish that hatched in 2021, when 225 live Chum were counted in Basil Creek. There were also 20 in Hansen Creek, 10 in Whaletown Creek and 5 in James Creek.