‘Spectacular’ salmon return in the Tri-Cities this fall

It’s been a windfall salmon return, according to local streamkeepers.

Mossom Creek experienced its biggest salmon return in more than three decades, according to Ruth Foster, the vice president and co-founder of the Mossom Creek Hatchery and Education Centre.

They’ve counted more than 1,000 chum salmon, along with around 100 coho (although coho, a fast, athletic fish, are much harder to count) — a substantial increase from last year. They’ve also seen a few chinook salmon, a species the hatchery doesn’t raise and release. 

“It’s been spectacular,” Foster said.

There have been other wildlife sightings alongside the salmon, with nature lovers and trail cameras observing everything from sea lions, to harbour seals, to bears, crows, herons, river otters, and more. 

“We call salmon a foundation species. Because when you bring back the salmon, you bring back everything,” Foster said. “There’s lots of food for everybody.”

They noticed the fish first returning on October 9, and while the return is currently waning, Foster said some are still incoming.

This is good news for the local environment.

“Bears and other animals will drag the carcasses up into the forest, and so the vegetation — the trees, shrubs, everything down to the [moss] – gets the marine nitrogen addition that is really important for good growth.”

Foster founded Mossom Creek Hatchery in 1976 with Rod MacVicar, along with their students at Centennial Secondary in Coquitlam. They wanted to give their students positive, meaningful environmental experiences outside the classroom.

She said she has been involved for nearly 50 years because “it’s more about the people than the fish.” 

 “What is — I think — rather extraordinary and wonderful is that the students that we work with, the young people, develop, I guess, an affinity. They care. They care more about the environment. They care specifically about Mossom Creek. And they keep coming back.”

Hoy-Scott Watershed Society members, who observe Hoy Creek and Scott Creek in Coquitlam, have also witnessed a “bumper” year.

“It’s been a great year for our return in our streams,” said Robbin Whachell, a past president and director of communications for the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society.

Once per week, the society has a crew walk a section of stream to count both dead and living fish. After last month’s atmospheric river, she said sightings increased from one to 1,000. Last year’s fish counts were significantly lower. 

These surveys estimate the salmon returns, but variables like weather (it is much easier to count fish in drier weather than rainy, as they might get swept downstream) mean it is impossible to know the actual numbers.

But Wachell added, “We know we have a good return year, because we see them in the creek. The residents see them day after day.”