The Bluewater Anglers’ hatchery in Point Edward is set to open its doors Saturday and Sunday for its annual open house.
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The open house runs both days from 10 am to 3 pm in the hatchery located north of the Blue Water Bridge in Point Edward’s Waterfront Park.
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“We’re getting it cleaned up and looking decent for everyone,” said Ross Bishop, with the Bluewater Anglers.
Volunteers with the thousands not-for-profit club raise of Chinook salmon, rainbow trout and brown trout each season in the hatchery, built in the early 1980s, so they can be released in local waterways.
Visitors will see fish in tanks at the hatchery that have been raised since the fall to be ready for release when water temperatures warm up.
Volunteers with the club will be on hand Saturday and Sunday to guide visitors through the hatchery, “and kind of explain to people what we do and how we do it, Bishop said.
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Each year, around Thanksgiving, members of the club head north to collect eggs for the hatchery. They’re fertilized and hatched so they can be cared for until they are large enough to be released.
As part of the hatchery, the club has a pond stocked with fish and a coin-operated dispenser available throughout the year so visitors can stop by and feed fish.
“We need fish in our Great Lakes,” Bishop said. “Fish in the wild have a two per hundred chance that when they lay an egg it will become a fish.”
That compares to eggs collected by the club which typically have an 85 per hundred chance of surviving and becoming a fish, he said.
The annual open house typically attracts several hundred visitors during the two days, Bishop said.
“We will be selling hot dogs and pop,” along with tickets on a draw, he said.
There will also be information about this year’s kids training day, set for May 25, when youngsters can be registered to learn fishing techniques from club members at an annual event also held at the hatchery.
The club’s 48th annual salmon derby will be held this year from May 3 to 12 with more than $45,000 in prizes being offered for winners. The derby is an annual fundraiser to help support the hatchery.
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