Mission Creek enters expected return window for sockeye released in 2023
More than 1.6 million sockeye fry were released into the Kelowna creek three years ago, while a new fish passage has since opened permanent access to Okanagan Lake
Okanagan Nation Alliance staff work with sockeye salmon at the kł cp̓əlk̓ stim̓ Hatchery, part of the Syilx Okanagan Nation's long-term effort to restore sockeye throughout their historical range.
Photo: Okanagan Nation Alliance
Mission Creek has entered a three-year window in which many of the sockeye salmon released into the Kelowna waterway in 2023 are expected to return as adults.
The Okanagan Nation Alliance released 1,617,217 sockeye fry into Mission Creek between April 28 and May 8, 2023, as part of its long-running work to restore salmon throughout the Okanagan watershed.
Black Mountain Irrigation District said in a February 2025 update that many of the sockeye released into Mission Creek that year were expected to return as adults between 2026 and 2028.
No official 2026 count for returning sockeye in Mission Creek has yet been published by the Okanagan Nation Alliance.
The expected return period comes as salmon have permanent access to Okanagan Lake through a fish passage that opened beside the Okanagan Lake Dam in Penticton on Aug. 18, 2025.
The passage connects the Okanagan River with approximately 350 square kilometres of Okanagan Lake and 13 tributaries. The Okanagan Nation Alliance said salmon had faced no or limited access to the lake for close to a century.
The structure was designed for sockeye, Chinook, kokanee, rainbow trout and steelhead and includes monitoring equipment to track fish moving through the passage.
Restoring sockeye to Okanagan Lake is part of the Syilx Okanagan Nation's kł cp̓əlk̓ stim̓ initiative, translated by the Nation as “cause to come back.” The program combines hatchery releases with habitat restoration, monitoring and work to restore connections through the watershed.
Mission Creek has been part of that effort for years.
In 2022, the Okanagan Nation Alliance documented adult sockeye spawning in Mission Creek and several other tributaries of Okanagan Lake after managed passage work at the Penticton dam.
Earlier research also examined where sockeye would travel if moved above the dam. Researchers tagged 46 adult fish and relocated them upstream, and about 41 per cent were later detected in Okanagan Lake. The highest numbers of detections were recorded near Mission, Trepanier and Trout creeks.
The Nation has continued releasing juvenile sockeye into tributaries so the fish can imprint on those waterways before migrating downstream. Returning adults can then use those environmental cues to locate spawning areas.
The broader Okanagan sockeye population continues to face significant pressures.
The Okanagan Nation Alliance reported in April that about 9,000 sockeye returned to spawn in fall 2025. Extreme temperatures created thermal barriers in the Okanogan River system, delaying fish migrating toward Canadian spawning grounds.
ONA fisheries biologist Shayla Lawrence also said fishing in the United States contributed to the reduced return, with more sockeye harvested there than ultimately reaching the spawning grounds.
The low return meant fewer offspring were available for the Nation's hatchery program. ONA announced plans to release approximately 330,000 sockeye fry throughout Syilx Okanagan Nation territory in 2026, compared with releases that have reached several million fish in stronger years.
A ceremonial sockeye fry release at Mission Creek was scheduled for May 7 as part of this year's program.
Work is also continuing on the creek itself.
The Regional District of Central Okanagan announced in August that new rock riffles were being installed in Mission Creek ahead of the fall kokanee spawning season.
The structures help oxygenate the water and create spawning and resting habitat for fish while improving the creek's natural flood-protection capacity.
Kokanee, the freshwater form of sockeye salmon, return to Mission Creek each year to spawn and spend their entire lives in freshwater. Ocean-going sockeye migrate through the Columbia and Okanagan river systems before returning to freshwater spawning areas.
With permanent passage into Okanagan Lake now open and the 2023 Mission Creek cohort entering its expected adult return years, monitoring over the next several seasons will provide more information about how sockeye use the restored route and the lake's tributaries.
Mission Creek has entered a three-year window in which many of the sockeye salmon released into the Kelowna waterway in 2023 are expected to return as adults.