The Creek Crier

Winter Edition January, 1997 Vol. 6 No.5

New Spawning Channel Attracts Fish and Folks

Last summer, the hatchery volunteers, Doug Bennie, Dave Bennie, Cliff Gilfillan, Jake Klaver and Eric Olsen commenced a project that had been planned five years ago along with construction of the hatchery building. This project involves a multi-pool artificial spawning channel system, visible along the trail approaching the hatchery from the parking lot. The summer of ‘96 saw the first pool and twin weirs constructed and put into service. Chum salmon were the first to exploit the new system and were quickly followed by the Coho. At one time there were twenty salmon milling around the new pond and hiding under the overhangs. It’s obvious that in the future some method will have to be used to limit occupancy. As new vegetation fills in this area in 1997, we expect it will become a beautiful place of contemplation which will attract humans escaping the hurley-burley as well as the piscine species for which it was designed.

Fall Return Best Ever

by Eric Olsen

"Wow! Look at that big fish!"

"Yeah - and look at the one right behind, it’s even bigger!"

This conversation took place late last October between a father and son. Both had been on an afternoon stroll and had ended up at the Noons Creek Hatchery. The newly rebuilt flume run or exit from the Coho juvenile pond was attracting a lot of excited comments from passers-by. The Coho were finding the new pond and weir sequence extremely attractive and were eagerly exploiting it on their migratory run.
Many aspects of fish culture can be physically measured: fish size, numbers of each gender, egg counts, etc., but sometimes a year’s success or lack of it boils down to a gut feeling. In 1995 our Coho run in Noons Creek was excellent numerically, but we took brood stock and held them in the hatchery until they were ripe for egg take and fertilizing, difficulties arose. We experienced problems with adult fish vitality. Some females, showing all the signs of maturity, produced eggs that were obviously not ready for fertilization. The resulting egg take was lower than expected and the percent mortality of the fertilized eggs was higher than in other years.

In autumn of 1996, the story was different. On flood tides, the fish poured into Noons Creek in an aggressive and bustling manner. Not only were the Coho considerably larger, but they had a flush and gleam that seemed absent the year previous. Our new system of entrapment worked like a dream. The covered flume which leads to the Coho juvenile pond presented no stress to the brood stock, and they lay calmly in the cool, dark water, an environment that Coho love so well.

Coho eggs taken from Noons Creek in the fall of 1996 totalled almost 44,000, of which 20,000 eggs will eventually be transferred to Mossom Hatchery. At the time of writing, early January, we have experienced approximately 5% egg loss in our Coho eggs and this to say the least is excellent, a dramatic reversal from 1995.

As we did in 1995, we obtained Chum salmon eggs during two trips to Indian River, which is at the upper end of the north arm of Burrard Inlet. The Chum salmon run in Noons Creek in 1995 amounted to six to eight fish total, while the run in 1996 was by Noons Creek standards excellent and amounted to several dozen fish. We will probably continue using Indian River eggs until the Noons run is consistent.

This year we are incubating in excess of 95,000 Chum eggs. Of these, 30,000 Chum fry will be seeded into Schoolhouse South Creek, which runs to the rear of Andres Wine and proceeds through the bulk terminal.

The hatchery pets, our 194 Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout, are nearing their second birthday. To say these trout are good-looking is a real understatement. They have responded extremely well to the care and attention bestowed upon them by the hatchery volunteers. We expect to release these finny predators into Noons Creek next April.

On January 1, 1997, a brand new player slipped into our spawning channel, a winter steelhead of approximately six or seven pounds. Noons Creek is obviously becoming an interesting and diversified piece of water, maybe just like in days of old.

The Winter of ‘96!

The record cold temperatures and impressive dumps of snow that kept most of our lives interesting over the Christmas holiday period also had an impact at the Hatchery. Cold weather creates immediate problems by freezing intake lines and reducing the fresh, clean water in which our developing salmon eggs are bathed. So while most of us cranked up the heat at home and contemplated whether to dig out the driveway now or wait until there was some sign of the snow stopping, stalwart hatchery Dad Eric Olsen wrestled his way down to the hatchery through four-foot drifts to ensure that the eggs were safe. At one point the overworked pump caused an INCREASE in water temperature up to 15 degrees celsius, a thermal event which would concern us on a warm summer’s day, and Eric was reduced to hauling in loads of snow from outdoors to cool the water off. The resulting increase in [thermal units?] may mean that egg development is somewhat ahead of schedule. But who would have expected warm water to be a problem when it was 10 below outside!

HELP NEEDED!! If you New Year's resolution list included exercise, look no further! We are putting together a work party for a new trail to be built above the existing trail, allowing access to the expanded spawning channel. We will also need help with the spawning channel expansion. Call Dave Bennie at the Hatchery (469-9106)

Nature Education Programs

by Nancy Aichberger & Heather Washburn

The Autumn ‘96 School Programs at the Noons Creek Hatchery ran from September through to late October. Any who can think back to last autumn may recall warm, sunny days well into October followed by a spell of dry weekends and soggy weekdays. This latter meant tarps, chilblained fingers and voices raised over the downpour at the Hatchery as naturalists took the grades 4-6 children through the Stream Science program. During this program, the children especially enjoyed collecting and studying insect life from the marsh. Classes from grades 1-3 participated in an Estuary Explorers program which took them through the forest along the route Noons Creek follows, down to the estuary, discussing and experiencing the changes in plant and animal life en route. In total, twenty-two groups of school children attended programs at Noons Creek Hatchery last fall. Jutta Haunerland, Nancy Aichberger, Heidi Sutherland, Annabel Cope and myself, newbie Heather Washburn, were naturalist-leaders. We are looking forward to resuming Stream Science and Estuary Education again in the spring. On one cold and snowy day in November, PMES members Heather Washburn, David Bennie, Annabel Cope, Heidi Sutherland, Nancy Aichberger, Susan Norie and Quirien Mulder. Kate attended the Environmental Education Resources for Teachers (EERT) Workshop and fair. Toby Rowe, our Director of Education, was a presenter for The Friends of Boundary Bay, speaking about a new program being developed called EcoScope for Sustaining Wetlands.

Hatchery Tours

After the school programs ended in late October, we began booking hatchery tours for District 43 schools and other interested groups. These tours (conducted by Nancy mostly, with help from Heather and the hatchery guys, especially John) coincided with the return of the Chum and Coho to Noons Creek. The return was fantastic and there were always lots and lost of magnificent fish to be seen. An ESL group from Coquitlam College was lucky enough to watch an egg take, with those members who had a greater grasp of English translating Nancy’s explanation to the others. One preschool group also there during an egg take and was fascinated with the deep red male Coho and his less showy consort - not minding at all the death and blood. Several members of a primary class carefully collected some of the unripe eggs from a dead female, the apparent plan being to put them in water when they got home and produce their own baby salmon. This was a very busy and exciting time, with a total of 13 tours conducted.

Water Quality Testing

by Nancy Aichberger

We are slowly finding new student volunteers to learn water quality testing. These people come down to the hatchery Saturdays. WE SURE COULD USE a few more people who would have time available during the week. As mentioned in the last Creek Crier, this would allow us to be able to cover other streams than Noons Creek.

New Fisherman takes up Residence

Visitors to the Hatchery this fall were at first amazed and then more amused by a new arrival who took up residence in October and stuck around until the beginning of December. An immature Great Blue Heron found a mossy rock in the Coho pond outflow area to his liking and spent his days shamelessly fishing for the wild Coho fry that were to be found there. Later in the year when the supply of Coho fry seemed to be mysteriously less, he sat above the new Spawning Channel, oblivious to passers-by, taking a keen interest in the spawners. While PMES takes an interest in the full cycle of life, the hatchery guys have expressed the desire to net over this area come spring.

Port Moody Ecological Centre Update