With a sense of excitement our local team of stream-keepers were happy to welcome Rob Bell-Irving from the Dept. of Fisheries an Oceans, Canada, with his delivery of 100,000 fresh eggs from Squamish. The Chum salmon eggs settled into trays with cool water beside trays of pink salmon that had arrived in December.
Over the course of the next 3 months, the guardians of the eggs will have to monitor the water quality and temperature and check each egg to ensure that each one in the tank is healthy or it has to be removed.
The fish hatchery, across from the gas station, is tucked into the trees, a short walk into Crippen Park. A stream runs beside the hatchery where salmon fry can grow under the shade of the ferns and the canopy of the trees upon their release.
Tim Pardee says that even though the salmon have had some rough years in general around the province, the hope is that the continued support from hatcheries will mitigate some of the environmental challenges in the wild.
