Latest News / Blog

7pm on Wednesday, 17th February 2021

The Port Moody Ecological Society will for 2021, host their AGM using the Zoom Teleconference platform in Webinar format – see below for details to register.

As well as providing an overview of the activities of the Society in 2020, the current Board will be dissolved and a new Board elected for the coming year.

The guest speaker this year will be Dr. Brett van Poorten, an Assistant Professor with the School of Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University with a relevant and topical subject.

We continue to do our part to help contain the global outbreak of COVID-19. Only authorised volunteers and DFO staff are able to enter the building because of the limited space. We will continue to follow health authorities’ directives and trust that our combined efforts to limit the transmission of COVID-19 will allow us to resume full operations soon.

Thanks to our fantastic volunteers and Sandie from the DFO who created this concrete salmon that is on display outside our hatchery in Shoreline Park in Port Moody.

The Port Moody Ecological Society was proud to win a 2018 Spike Award. The Spike Business Awards recognizes the effort of Port Moody businesses.

P.M.E.S. had our 2015 Chum Salmon egg-take from the Alouette River today (November 7) – with subsequent fertilisation and incubation process back at the hatchery. It was a VERY wet day and the catch was good but not as voluminous as we would have liked. We took 7 female and 9 male – so that takes our grand total of Chum to about 18 ‘eggers’ (after our DFO Rep, Sandie got 11 female and 12 male for us last Wednesday). It would appear that the Alouette Chum run is just about on it’s last legs…………………………..

Here at Port Moody Ecological, we knew that the Welcome Post Project would generate both public interest and dialogue. With Tasha Faye Evans leading it, her enthusiasm and effervescent approach would ensure it was a guaranteed success!

The Welcome Post Project. We have enjoyed a very successful Welcome Post Project program of Coast Salish Cultural events this summer at Noons Creek Hatchery.

Some amazing community and environmental stewards were honoured on June 8th by Rotary of Port Moody. And something we should all be very proud of is the fact that all four are current members of the Port Moody Ecological Society!!

A number of months ago, PMES was asked to review, and if we felt there was value, support a project proposed by Ramona de Graff on forage fish habitats – particularly in the Burrard Inlet. Our support was to increase the chance of sponsorship to get the project going.

On Wednesday, February 17 2016 at 7 pm, the Port Moody Ecological Society hosted their annual general meeting at the Port Moody Recreation Centre, 300 Ioco Road.

Life goes on – and nature has it’s ways.  Everything has a purpose for all species – except for us humans, who have selfishly determined that we are better than any other animal and have turned the natural order of things on their head!  Apparently we think the laws of nature don’t apply to us.  But I digress……………….   🙂

After the fish have done their thing, they die, decompose and become nutrients for not only creek organisms, but all sorts of fauna and flora in the environment. Do you know that certain nitrogen elements from returning oceanic salmonids have been found in trees and plants many kilometres from any creek or river?  The Pacific Salmon is one of the key species on this planet. The nutrients they give back to the earth sustain life on this planet far more than anyone would ordinarily think.

Our intrepid French volunteer, Aude Bertoncello (11th Nov 2015) captured some underwater footage of a gorgeous Coho pair in our channel leading from the rearing pond to Noons Creek.

A new generation of salmonids begins………………………………. Today (11/4/2015), we had our DFO gurus Sandie Hollick-Kenyon and Scott Ducharme on site at the hatchery to help start our […]

We continue to be thrilled that our side channel ‘makeover’ has been so successful. It started with the Pink Salmon taking a liking to it, then the Chum and Coho moved in. All in all, the traffic through there – and up to the over-wintering ponds – has been a joy to see.

Nothing too startling here but some great nature observations nonetheless. Coyotes, eagles and a fantastic geese shot……………………..check ’em out below! Photo credits go to P.M.E.S. volunteer […]

We had some really cool visitors spotted near the hatchery in the last few weeks – one quite elusive for the area!

Red-Legged Frog: Even though Port Moody is in the habitat area defined for these critters, they are rarely seen (and endangered) – so this was a real find!!

At the mouth of Noons Creek the other day (Sept 22), a Blue Heron was observed that had eyes bigger than its stomach. The heron was seen wading in the shallows of the mud-flats near the mouth of the creek and attempting to ingest a salmon that was clearly too big for it’s own good!

We’ve had some early fish returns at Noons Creek for 2015! Fish were spotted as early as September 1st at the mouth of the creek – and today they are milling around the rearing pond outflow before they head further up the creek. Species are yet to be fully confirmed but all indications are that they are Coho………although some have looked a little ‘Chummy’ 🙂

Just wanted to share with everybody a rare ‘wild life‘ sighting at Noons Creek recently. The photo shows most of the male ‘motley crew’ of the Port […]

It is with much sadness that the Port Moody Ecological Society shares with our community that Dean Sam, a beloved supporter of the Noons Creek hatchery and […]

After much discussion (and a very warm and dry Summer), a trip to the lake was organised to facilitate the supplementing of water flow into Noons Creek from Cypress Lake. The creek had almost come to a standstill with extremely low flow – in fact the creek gauge above the hatchery intake is now out of the water entirely.

As the valving at the Cypress Lake dam is still not operational, a plan was devised to syphon some water from the dam into the small tributary of Noons Creek that stems from the dam’s spillway. The following ingredients were needed:

A bunch of our amazing volunteers helped out last Saturday (6th June) by putting the shade cloth on our rearing pond so the young Coho fry don’t get sun-stroke – thanks guys!!!

And then the same amazing volunteers transferred the said Coho fry into the pond from the tank where they were living temporarily inside the hatchery.

All this under the watchful eye of hatchery stalwart, Eric Olsen.

Fun in the sun – nothing better – so come on down and be a part of our educational and fun activities!!!

For a scheduled date of Wednesday 27th May 2015, the Port Moody Ecological Society called upon some volunteers to help with our annual Coho Salmon fry adipose fin-clipping (around 9,500 of them!).

Special thanks to those volunteers that could make it on the day – to clip them before they are transferred to our rearing pond for the next 12 months while they smolt in readiness for their long journey to the Pacific.

Discovered recently near the hatchery at Noons Creek was an intricately built “Bushtit” birds nest. No birds were evident at the time of discovery.

Thought our friends and supporters would like to see the more unusual inhabitants of our duck pond – found over the last few months.

We have some salamanders, newts, sculpins……….and of course the usual assortment of feathered beings as well!

From a scenic flight on Friday August 8th, 2014 here is a photo of our hatchery and ponds from about 2000 feet.  Clearly visible is the […]

On Friday August 21st, 2015 the Port Moody Ecological Society was again wonderfully surprised with a charitable donation of $1350 from Linda Jackson, President of the Fraser […]

Ponding is a process of introducing swim-up fry to food once their yolk sacs have been absorbed. At this stage, their swim bladders should be developed so they can move up and down in the water column easily. Before ponding all of the fish, we test to see if a sample will rise to the surface when placed in a bucket. We then feed them a little bit of size zero feed, which is so small that it floats until they peck at it. Floating food elicits their inquisitiveness, and when they find out it’s edible they eat it all up! If it’s not to their liking though, they will spit it back out.

The interpretive trail loop is opening in Spring 2013 and is the culmination of two months of hard work by Dave Bennie, Brian Wormald and several other volunteers.  Teaming up with TD Tree Days and the Evergreen Foundation, approximately $2,000 worth of native trees and shrubs were planted around the hatchery and along the trail.  The trail is named after Dave Bennie and his father, Doug Bennie, both of whom loved the hatchery and volunteered countless hours ensuring its success.