Three employees from the City of Parksville Engineering Department joined us yesterday at our salmon smolt trap on Shelly Creek.
From left to right are Marie Whibley (GIS Mapper), Shawn Boven (Director of Engineering and Technology Systems), and Kate Pocock (Emergency Program Coordinator). They helped count and measure the Coho Salmon smolts captured in our trap during their migration out of Shelly Creek to the Englishman River on their way to the ocean.
The trap includes a fence and pipe (seen in the above photo) and a metal box (left-hand photo). The fence directs the fish swimming down the creek through a pipe into the smolt box.
Before we installed the smolt trap on March 28, MVIHES Board Member Terry Baum made a lot of much-needed repairs and improvements to the smolt fence with funding from a grant from the Pacific Salmon Foundation. Thank you, Terry!
Thomas Negrin and Ally Badger of the BC Conservation Foundation (BCCF) worked alongside our volunteers to install the trap which we much appreciate.
Each morning at 9 am, volunteers open the smolt box to identify and count the fish. We measure the length of 10 out of every hundred salmon smolts. The photo to the right shows MVIHES Vice President Maggie Estok and Shawn measuring the length of smolts using little water troughs with built in rulers. Once counted and measured, the fish are placed in a pail with an aerator. Rainbow and Cutthroat Trout are also captured and measured, some exceeding 30 cm in length! This important data is entered into a spreadsheet and sent to Department of Fisheries and Oceans AND the BC Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship by our awesome Team Leader, Shelley Goertzen.
In the above photos Kate scoops out some fish with a small net and counts them as she places them into a pail, and Marie shows off one of the fish she measured. The smolts and trout in the pail are then placed into a “holding box” for Ally at BCCF to PIT Tag before she releases them into the creek. You can read all about the fascinating PIT Tagging program here.
Yesterday we counted 110 smolts and today we counted 275 plus 2 Rainbow Trout. That makes 2969 Coho Salmon, 75 Rainbow Trout, and 9 Cutthroat Trout counted since March 28 and there are still a few weeks to go before the migration ends. It's not too late to participate in this year's smolt count. You can sign up here.
Many thanks to Shawn, Kate and Marie from the City for their participation, and to our volunteers: Shelley Goertzen, Terry Baum, Denis Cote, Dick Dobler, Maggie Estok, Gene Gapsis, Jeff Allen, Carmel Lowe, Bob Williams, Pete Law, Craig Wightman, Tyler Dobler, and Jessica Stockholder.
Look who showed up on Martindale Pond (part of Shelly Creek) across the road from our trap. It's Martin the turtle (on the right) and friend. Would his friend's name happen to be Dale, you know, Martindale? They're basking on the log installed by BCCF for just that purpose following our restoration of the pond. You can read about that here. Restoring Martindale Pond Fish Habitat - MVIHES (Mid-Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society)
Our forage fish volunteers recently added 2 more sites to their list of 11 sites for monitoring Forage Fish Spawning Habitat. Our monitoring sites include beaches from Craig Bay to Yambury Rd in French Creek. The 2 new sites are on the restored beach of the Nature Trust property on Mariner Way in the Kw’a’luxw (Englishman River) Estuary. Exciting, eh?
MVIHES Volunteer and Project Leader, Shelley Goertzen, is seen in the photo to the left.
Forage fish are small fish that travel in large schools and are a food source, or ‘forage', for larger fish and marine mammals. Forage fish, including Pacific herring, Pacific sand lance and surf smelt form the cornerstone of marine food webs. They play an important role in the diets of salmon, humpback whales, porpoises, sea lions, seals, and marine birds.
While herring lay eggs 1 to 1.4 mm in size on kelp and eel grass, surf smelt and Pacific sand lance lay tiny eggs (1mm) on pebble and sand beaches just below the high-tide line - an area called the intertidal zone. It’s the surf smelt and sand lance spawning habitat we are monitoring, although we’ve only ever found sand lance eggs. Surf smelt are found further south.
Every month since 2018, MVIHES volunteers haven been visiting beaches at low tide to map spawning sites and collect habitat data along with sand samples to see if they contain eggs. Samples are collected from plots set up in the intertidal zone of established monitoring sites. The photos below show volunteers in action.
Mark Hogg lays out a sample plot with a measuring tape Mary Campbell enters habitat data digitally into a pad (what a tech savvy group!)
Nanzy Pezel collects more habitat data Mary Campbell collects a sand sample
Samples are sieved and "vortexed" to sort out the right sized sand grains on which forage fish eggs are attached. The sorted sand from each site is checked under a microscope by MABRRI for the presence of eggs and embryos. Once eggs have been identified by MABRRI, they are sent to experts in Washington State for confirmation.
So, why are we monitoring and mapping forage fish spawning habitat? One of MABRRI's project objectives is to submit data into the Pacific Salmon Foundation Marine Data Centre, allowing data availability to inform policy change. For example, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has "timing windows" which are periods when it is safe to conduct work on shorelines without damaging fish and fish habitat. The winter timing window for fish is December 1 to February 15. Our data shows that the sand lance spawning season extends into December and January when it is assumed safe for shoreline disturbance.
Last month, MABRRI reported the following sites contained suspected sand lance eggs:
Parksville Community Park Site 2 San Pareil Site 2 San Pareil Site 3 San Pareil Site 4 French Creek Marina
No, these do not include the 2 new sites but don't be disheartened. We're sure sand lance eggs will eventually show up in our samples from the newly restored beach habitat. Below is a photo of a view of eggsthrough a microscope
Many thanks to our partners at MABRRI and our Forage Fish volunteers: Brenda Riley, Catherine Watson, Gene Gapsis, Majory McFadyen, Mark Hogg, Mary Campbell, Nancy Pezel, Pat Ashton, Shelley Goertzen and Sue Wilson.
Water quality monitoring, rain garden education, planting trees, and a marine debris survey are just a few of the activities our volunteers have been up to this fall. Read on for the full story.
From October 8 to November 5, volunteers were monitoring water quality as part of the Community Watershed Monitoring Network run by the Drinking Water and Watershed Protection department at the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN). Each year stewardship groups from all over the region participate in this monitoring program which collects water quality data every Tuesday for five weeks in late summer (low flow) and five weeks during the fall flush. One MVIHES team monitors nine sites in the Kw'a'luxw (Englishman River) watershed while a second team monitors five sites on creeks in Nanoose and Lantzville. The RDN uses the data to help make decisions in land use planning. Volunteers include Martin Yeo, Brenda Riley, Kathy Miller, Liz Campbell, Jeff Allen, Larysa Bilou, Katya Kondratyuk, Adam Walker, Barb Riordan, Chris Smith .and Sue Wilson as our backup.
Between October 13 and 19, a team of volunteers collected water samples before, during, and after high rain events for the presence of 6PPD-quinone, a byproduct of tire wear that is toxic to Coho Salmon at very low concentrations. 6PPD-quinone accumulates on roads, bridges, and parking lots from where it is washed into creeks and rivers during heavy rain. The BC Conservation Foundation is running this program across Vancouver Island to identify waterways containing the toxin.
Finding none in the Kw'a'luxw River, Shelly Creek and Craig Creek, the team moved on to sampling the water coming out of the Mills Street and Carey Creek stormwater outfalls. Lethal concentrations were measured at both outfalls during the rain events which is very concerning. The Mills Street outfall flows into the Kw'a'luxw River Estuary which provides rearing habitat for salmon fry and smolts. Vegetation filters out 6PPD-quinone which emphasizes the importance of strategically placed rain gardens for treating rainwater running off roads and parking lots. The team includes Barbara Wildman-Spencer, Dick Dobler, Kathy Miller and Denis Cote.
On October 27, our Raingarden Team Leader, Bob Williams, and Terry Bajenko (photo below) were at the Fall into Gardening Conference with their awesome display for educating and encouraging the public to build raingardens. Terry has her own rain garden and shared her valuable experience with the attendees. The theme of the conference was preparing gardens for climate change. Rain gardens are an important component to mitigating the impacts of climate change on our salmon streams. Watch our short video on the Parksville Firehall Rain Garden to learn more.
On November 13, volunteers worked with Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in planting an old gravel pit beside the Side Channel in the Englishman River Regional Park. The gravel pit was a low spot where salmon spawners became stranded during high flows. DFO filled in the pit, and volunteers along with three DFO folks planted trees and shrubs. It was tough digging through the cobble encountered under about 8 inches of ameliorated soil (sand mixed with humus and straw), but they finished in two and a half hours. Volunteers included Yana Maltais, Mark Hogg, Nancy Pezel, Chris Smith, Tom Whitfield, Leonard Neufeld, and Tim Popoff.
Throughout November, the Snaw-naw-as First Nation have been planting 2000 trees and shrubs along the section of Shelly Creek we restored in 2021 and 2022. Volunteers Heather and David Ranson, Shelley Perry, Nancy Pezel and Barb Riordan helped out. The challenge with this site is the heavy clay soil that clings to your boots and shovel, adding about 20 lbs of dead-weight (“Groan, I’m to old for this….”). But this soil provides some mighty fine growing conditions, and the trees and shrubs planted 2 years ago by the Snaw-naw-as and MVIHES are doing great. This section of creek will have a very robust riparian zone.
Check out the growth leader on this Sitka spruce (Steven Moore, consultant) Ron Fraser with salmonberry shrubs
Derrick Bob Logan Bob
Spawning Coho Salmon have been observed during the planting, along with a big Cutthroat Trout and a Chum Salmon. We’ve re-connected our antenna array in Shelly Creek which tracks fish with PIT tags. We partner with the BC Conservation Foundation on this project. So far, four Cutthroat Trout that were tagged in the watershed this spring have been detected in Shelly Creek: two juveniles originating from Shelly Creek, one juvenile that ventured all the way from Centre Creek, and the fourth trout was 22.5 cm (almost 9 inches) long when it was tagged in the Side Channel in the Englishman River Regional Park. Huh, they do like to wander. None of the Coho spawning in the creek so far had tags but it's early days. Volunteers are Denis Cote, Rick Walz, Shelley Goertzen, Chris Smith, Maggie Estok, Dick Dobler and Barb Riordan. Stay tuned for updates.
Antenna array inside PVC pipe Downloading data logger
On November 14, a Marine Debris Survey, where we look for macro and microplastics, was conducted on Rathtrevor Beach by our team: Martin Yeo, Yana Maltais, Kathy Miller, Gene Gapsis, Bob Williams, and Barb Riordan. The Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute is running this program with several stewardship groups in the region and provides training, equipment and entering of our data into a global database. This is the fourth survey we've done this year at Ratthtrevor and the first time we've found a microplastic. One measely teeny piece which is good news. Very few macroplastics were found on the beach. Debris also includes paper products, metals and styrofoam.
Microplastic in red circle Some of the marine debris
The trap includes a fence and pipe (seen in the above photo) and a metal box (left-hand photo). The fence directs the fish swimming down the creek through a pipe into the smolt box.
From October 8 to November 5, volunteers were monitoring water quality as part of the 
On November 14, a Marine Debris Survey, where we look for macro and microplastics, was conducted on Rathtrevor Beach by our team: Martin Yeo, Yana Maltais, Kathy Miller, Gene Gapsis, Bob Williams, and Barb Riordan. The Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute is running this program with several stewardship groups in the region and provides training, equipment and entering of our data into a global database. This is the fourth survey we've done this year at Ratthtrevor and the first time we've found a 
