About a quarter of a million chum fry will be released across the Lower Mainland this spring thanks to a hatchery in Maple Ridge.
And on Sunday, April 26, the public will be welcome at the Bell-Irving Hatchery in Kanaka Creek Regional Park to participate in releasing a portion of those fry at the annual Goodbye Chums event.
Ross Davies with the Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society said the water in the creek has been a little cooler than normal, but water temperatures have not affected the release dates of the fry.
This after a news report last week where volunteers with the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society in Coquitlam said they were releasing chum into the Hoy Creek one month early because warmer water temperatures caused the fish to grow faster and larger than usual.
However, the water hasn’t been warm enough in Kanaka Creek, said Davies. Water temperature is pretty close to average, he said.
Goodbye Chums will be taking place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, at the Bell-Irving Hatchery, 11484 256 Street, Maple Ridge.
Parking will be available at Websters’ Corners Elementary where there will be a free shuttle bus to the site.
“We’ll give you a bucket of fry to let go in the creek,” he said of the main event of the day.
The stewardship centre will be open where presentations will be taking place, and there will be themed booths on things like: aquatic insects and vertebrates that salmon eat when they are in the creek, bear safety, environmentally friendly household cleaners, and more.
Staff at the hatchery will also be answering any questions about Kanaka Creek and journey of the salmon.
Davies has been watching for fry at the Kanaka Creek fish fence already this year, and he said, so far, he hasn’t seen any chum, but a few coho fry.
“It seems early for that, but I figure that these came out of ground water creeks in the lower watershed that stay warmer,” he said.
The Bell-Irving Hatchery, established in 1983, is the largest community involved partnership hatchery in the Lower Mainland. Volunteers put in about 4,500 hours to produce the hatchery’s licensed quota of 325,000 chum, 80,000 coho, and, in odd numbered years, 150,000 pink salmon.