Tag Archives: Flood washing away salmon eggs

Rivers & Oceans

Salmon vs. climate change: How salmon are surviving climate shifts in Squamish

Editor’s note: The similarities this story has to our situation on Cortes Island, with Basil Creek having come close to drying up in 2022 and 2023 and the way that fish eggs are being harvested to try boost the population, made this story a must read.

By Bhagyashree Chatterjee, The Squamish Chief, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

What happens when a creek runs dry, and the fish that call it home can no longer make their way upstream?

For the team at Tenderfoot Creek Hatchery in Squamish, it’s a challenge they’re tackling head-on as the impacts of climate change ripple through the watershed.

While many hatcheries focus on large-scale harvests, Tenderfoot Creek is all about conservation.

Continue reading Salmon vs. climate change: How salmon are surviving climate shifts in Squamish →
Rivers & Oceans

First Chum Egg Count Of The Year – Is Terrific!

The final count for Cortes Island’s 2024 Chum run is not yet in, but according to local streamkeeper Christine Robinson, “We have never seen a return like this during the 34 years we’ve lived on Cortes, but the phenomenon is up the coast as far as Alaska. It’s not specific to Cortes and the Discovery Islands.”  

“It’s down into Washington state as well,” added her husband and fellow streamkeeper, Cec Robinson. 

On Monday, November 18th, five Cortes stream keepers and a semi-retired DFO employee from Campbell River gathered in the Klahoose Hatchery to count this year’s first egg take from Basil Creek.  

Continue reading First Chum Egg Count Of The Year – Is Terrific! →
Rivers & Oceans

The difference using hatchery fry made to Basil Creek’s gene pool

It has been almost a month since 5,000 hatchery raised Chum fry were released back into Basil Creek, in Squirrel Cove. They were the survivors of 20,000 eggs harvested from wild salmon and later placed inside ‘in-stream incubation boxes.’ Most of their siblings perished when the rising creek waters silted up their boxes. This remnant were taken back to the Klahoose hatchery for a month, before being returned to the creek. Someone asked if using fry from the hatchery weakens the local gene pool? Cortes Currents passed the question on to Stacey Larsen, DFO’s Community advisor for our area. 

Continue reading The difference using hatchery fry made to Basil Creek’s gene pool →