A woman stands at the mouth of a creek, as it enters a much larger body of water. There are hills across the water and a distant village
Rivers & Oceans

The Cortes Island Streamkeepers need help

The Cortes Island Streamkeepers are looking for volunteers, and also hoping that the community steps up its efforts to combat climate change. 

“There’s quite a few tasks we have to do,” explained Leona Jensen. 

One of them is in the Klahoose hatchery. 

Volunteers working on the James Creek stream restoration -Photo by Christine Robinson

LJ: “It was such a long dry fall that we had really no water in the creek when it was October,  even November when it’s time for the fish to spawn  there was no water. They were just out in the ocean and dying.”

CC: So how many fish made it to the creek?

LJ: “I think maybe 10 fish in Basil Creek, where we often have a few hundred. That was pretty disastrous.  Usually, we try to get some eggs from the fish and then some of the sperm. We can’t take them unless we have a certain amount and then we breed some eggs and keep those over the winter, grow them in our boxes and let them hatch.”

“We managed to get a few from Tla’amin, in Powell River, because fishery said they have the same genetic makeup as here. So we are allowed to bring those to this stream.” 

CC: 52,000 Chum eggs were brought over from the Tla’amin hatchery in December. Why are Chum so important on Cortes Island?

LJ: “Our streams dry up in the summer.”

“Chum don’t need to stay in the streams over summer. As soon as the fry are ready to go, they swim right out.” 

Mouth of Basil Creek
Virtually dried up mouth of Basil Creek on Oct 10, 2022 – Photo by Roy L Hales

“I know that sometimes the Chum can miss a year. They might wait five years before they come if the conditions are not too good.  Maybe next year will be a good year if the weather’s good, but with climate change getting worse, it doesn’t bode well. If the streams just get warmer and the ocean gets warmer, the fish will tend to go north instead of here.” 

“That’s what they’re finding down in Washington. Somebody that works for the Department of Fisheries told us that they might not have too many more years of salmon. That would be really sad.”  

“I think salmon are so important for our environment, for us as a people, for our culture, for our nutrition, for nutrition of wildlife, or just the forest because the creatures that drag  all the salmon out of the creeks fertilize the forest too.” 

“We have to do the best we can to enhance the salmon and try to keep them coming.”

“The public knows about climate change, but I think the public needs to be reminded that it’s everybody’s responsibility to do what they can as far as just their own fossil fuel imprint, their own purchasing power of what they buy, and contacting their political leaders to try to get changes.” 

15,000 Chum eggs put into Basil Creek’s incubation box on Dec 14, 2022 – Photo by Christine Robinson
Chum fry at the Klahoose hatchery prior to their being released into Basil Creek on April 20, 2022 – Photo by Roy L Hales

CC: Let’s get back to the Chum eggs, what kind of help do the Streamkeepers need? 

LJ: “We have some that have hatched and they’ve been able to feed on  their yolk sacks for nutrition.  Pretty soon they will go into the troughs at Klahoose.” 

“We are only a small part of looking at doing the hatchery. Klahoose is the major part of that, but we’ll need people to help. They need to be fed every day, and there is some cleaning out. When they get to a big size, they need to be put into the creek.” 

CC: Do the Streamkeepers have other projects underway? 

LJ: “There is also some rehabilitation of some of the creeks to make better hatching spots. At James Creek, we want to bring in some more rocks to make the redds (the beds for them to lay their eggs).  Also, we need help just keeping the streams  cleaned out enough to keep flowing.” 

“In the fall, we are counting the fish in each stream: Whaletown Creek; Hanson Creek; Basil Creek; James Creek. We have people going out every four days or so* and counting fish when they’re running, walking up and down the creek because you have to really look for them to find them. You can’t just stand there and wait for them to come to you.” 

Chum returning to Basil Creek in November 2022 – Photo by Roy L Hales

CC: Assuming that some of the people listening want to join Streamkeepers, how do they go about that? 

LJ: “The best thing to do is phone Cec and Christine Robinson. 250-935-6428.”

Or you could also contact the Streamkeepers by emailing Leona Jensen at jensenleona@gmail.com. 

*the wording of this quote was changed from ‘every day’ to ‘every four days or so,’ at Leona Jensen’s request, on March 27, 2023.

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