Tag Archives: Harvesting fish eggs

Rivers & Oceans

Final Numbers for Cortes Island’s 2024 Chum Run

The final numbers for Cortes Island’s 2024 Chum run are in. Local streamkeepers Cec and Christine Robinson gave a rundown. 

Christine Robinson: “I think we all know that this was  a stupendous year for Chums up and down the coast. So not just Cortes, not just Quadra, not just the Sunshine Coast, but from the mainland all the way up to Alaska and down through to Puget Sound and I think possibly further south.  The numbers on Cortes were the highest that we have seen since we’ve lived on Cortes, which is now 34 years.”

Cec Robinson: “To put it in context, they’re probably three times higher than the best years we’ve ever seen. So it was pretty huge.” 

Continue reading Final Numbers for Cortes Island’s 2024 Chum Run →
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 Chum Return to Basil Creek

The Chum started returning to Basil Creek a week ago. To an inexperienced eye, the water levels seemed too low on the 16th, but dozens of large salmon were progressing upstream beyond the culvert. Christine Robinson said that she and her husband Cec had seen them the previous day. That was when we agreed to do this interview. 

“We know it’s the big year in their four year cycle. Chum primarily have a four year cycle, a few of them three, and a few of them five, but the majority have a four year cycle.  In 2020, four years ago, approximately 1100 fish came back to Basil Creek. Four years prior to that, in 2016, there were about 1100. We’re not alone in this. All the creeks are in a similar cycle. Basil Creek, of course, is the main stream on Cortes for salmon return. So we’re optimistic that it should be a big year this time,” explained Cec Robinson, one of the principal Streamkeepers on Cortes Island.

Continue reading The Chum Return to Basil Creek →
Rivers & Oceans

Manual release of chum fry gives salmon population a fighting chance

CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

Cortes Island Streamkeepers released nearly 20,000 chum salmon fry into Whaletown Creek on Cortes Island on Saturday, March 19, in an ongoing effort to bring back the natural fish population for a healthy ecosystem.

Continue reading Manual release of chum fry gives salmon population a fighting chance →