We all remember the fantastic return of chum spawners to the Lagoon and Davies Creek last year, which started about October 17th and lasted for 3 weeks. In total we estimate over 1,100 chum returned to Bowen followed by the first coho spawners we’ve seen in years.
After a dry summer and very low water levels, we await the rain to create good conditions for chum spawners to return again this year. While we are hopeful that this year’s chum return will be significant, I’d like to remind everyone that we have had some years where very few chum were observed from the Causeway and often we only find carcasses on the shore of the Lagoon.
This would ordinarily be a pink year at the Terminal Creek Salmon Hatchery and we’d receive 100,000 eyed pink eggs from DFO in November. However, the pink spawner return to Squamish, where our eggs come from, was an ‘epic failure’ in 2017. The peak time for pink returns to Squamish is usually Labour Day. Pink returns by Labour Day 2017 were less than 2 percent of returns in 2015. Pink eggs gathered at the Tenderfoot Hatchery will be used to stock the Squamish system and, therefore, Bowen will not receive any pink eggs this fall.
Even though pink returns were near historical lows this year, Bob Turner did capture on film pink spawners returning to the Stawamus River near Squamish.
Volunteers will soon be preparing the Terminal Creek Salmon Hatchery for another year of activity incubating, raising, and releasing chum and coho fry into Bowen creeks, and educating the community and school children about the importance of salmon and salmon habitat. We’ll keep all of you informed about developments and events.
Thank you for supporting wild salmon.
Tim Pardee, Bowen Island Fish & Wildlife Club
