PRINCE GEORGE — The federal government has announced more than $50 million in contracts for the construction of three separate hatcheries in British Columbia aimed at salmon conservation. Fisheries and Oceans Canada says the projects will be on traditional First Nations territory or operated by a local nation. The largest contract is worth $38 million for construction of the Upper Fraser River Salmon Conservation Hatchery near the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser rivers in Prince George, B.C., within the territory of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation. Ottawa has also committed two contracts of about $7.5 million each for construction of a hatchery near Hanceville, B.C. in the central Interior and for the next phase of the Wilp’Ho Dix Hatchery in the Skeena River system in northwestern B.C. Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson says in a statement that the federal government will own and operated the Upper Fraser hatchery while operations will be shared with the Gitanyow First Nation on the Wilp’Ho Dix Hatchery. The hatchery near Hanceville, located on the traditional territory of the Tŝilhqot’in First Nation, will be operated by the nation upon completion. The three facilities are expected to have a combined capacity to raise more than one million juvenile Chinook and sockeye salmon annually. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2026.
