Carcross Tagish Energy Corporation to Preserve a Decade Worth of Fish Sperm

Thursday, 5 December 2019 16:32

Chinook Salmon populations have another layer of safeguarding thanks to the milt preservation (Photo courtesy of Government of Yukon)

The Carcross Tagish Energy Corporation (CTEC) has signed an agreement to preserve a decade of Yukon River Chinook Salmon milt. What is milt you say?

The Carcross Tagish Energy Corporation (CTEC) has signed an agreement to preserve a decade of Yukon River Chinook Salmon milt. What is milt you say? Milt is the sperm filled reproductive gland of a male fish, and thanks to an agreement signed with the Creative Salmon Company, Carcross Tagish Energy Corporation has enough of the stuff to fertilize about a million eggs.

CEO of Carcross Tagish Energy Corporation, Nelson Lepine, explained why that Corporation has decided to secure the milt in regards to an increased interest in food security. By having access to chinook milt the corporation can preserve chinook salmon populations in the case of a collapse. The eleven years of milt, collected across the Chinook salmon territory means the genetic diversity will remain strong.

CTEC will pay storage costs for the frozen genetic material that will be available to them should chinook populations ever become affected. Lepine says there are no plans to use the milt in the near future but were it to come to that, the corporation would consult with Carcross Tagish First Nation, other first nation governments and perhaps even the general public.

Maureen Ritter is the Managing Director of Canada Cryogenics where the milt is currently being stored. She says this is a great opportunity to safeguard genetic diversity in chinook populations. According to Ritter the backed-up genetics ensures that if there is further decline, the genetics are still available. Ritter says the milt was harvested from live fish and that eggs can be fertilized if need be in a fish hatchery.

Ritter cited the collapse of fish on the Fraser river after a landslide as an example of situation where frozen milt had proved useful. The milt used in that population collapse had been frozen twenty years and was still viable. The milt can be stored indefinitely and will remain in the Canada Cryogenics facility for now.

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