"Lord of the Flies" - MVIHES term for an expert in identifying aquatic bugs
Some of you may remember last year's program of monitoring Benthic Invertebrates (fancy term for aquatic bugs) to measure the health of the Englishman River and its tributaries. The results are in and are summarized below.
The photo to the left shows Bruce Murray (standing), our own Lord of the Flies, leading volunteers in sorting Benthic Invertebrates collected from the river bottom into trays for identification by Bruce. In addition to MVIHES volunteers, members of the Island Waters Flyfishing Club in Nanaimo, a member of the Mid-Island Castaways Fly Fishing Club in Qualicum Beach, and students from Dover Bay Secondary School Field Biology Program, participated.
2019 - Volunteers Sorting Aquatic Bugs
We used a method of sampling that has been around for a while, and anyone who has taken the “Streamkeepers" course will remember it. We scrape rocks from the bottom of the river into fine meshed nets to capture the bugs, as shown in the photo to the right.
Bruce then strapped on a pretty impressive set of magnifiers to get a very close look at the features of the bugs to aid in their identification. Data on the types of bugs and their numbers were recorded. The bugs were then released back into the river.
Once all the bugs were identified, we used the "Streamkeepers" method of categorizing them into the following three groups depending on their ability or inability to tolerate polluted water.
Pollution Intolerant: Caddis Flies, Stone Flies, May Flies, Dobson Flies, Riffle Beetles. These species require clear, clean , well oxygenated water, as do salmon and trout.
Pollution Tolerant: Midges, Black Flies, Backswimmers, Boatmen, Leeches, Aquatic Worms,
A river that has a lot of bugs that are intolerant of pollution is considered to be healthier than a river with more of the bugs that tolerate pollution.
A total of eight sites were sampled:
four in the Englishman River between the Englishman River Regional Park and the Orange Bridge in Parksville
one in the South Englishman River
one in Centre Creek
one in Morison Creek
one in Shelly Creek
The sample site in Morison Creek had the highest abundance of bugs while the site at the Orange Bridge had the lowest abundance.
May Fly (left photo) was the dominant species at five sites while Caddis Fly (right photo) was dominant at two sites. Both are Pollution Intolerant.
The Top Bridge sample site in the Regional Park was dominated by Water Mites which are a Pollution Tolerant species (right photo). Water Mites are the size of pepper grains, are NOT a human health issue, and provide a nice snack for young trout and salmon. Although the Water Mites were the most plentiful species at this site, the combined numbers of Pollution Intolerant and Somewhat Tolerant bugs were greater.
When we combine the bugs collected at all the sites, 78% were Pollution Intolerant, 4% were Somewhat Pollution Tolerant and 24% were Pollution Tolerant. When we look at the combination of bugs for the individual sites, we find that although there were more Pollution Intolerant bugs, two sample sites had enough Pollution Tolerant bugs to rate the sites as only "Marginal" and "Acceptable", compared to "Good" for the remaining six sites. The graph below shows the score for the sample sites based on a Pollution Tolerance Index.
This is certainly good news as it shows that in 2019, the Englishman River watershed appeared to be in reasonably good health, based on this study. The technical report can be viewed by clicking here.
This study was a major undertaking and would not have been possible without the participation of nineteen volunteers listed below.
Island Waters Fly Fishing Club
Chris Depka, Matt Haapla, Bernie Heinrichs, Bob MacEachern, John Stymiest
Dover Bay Secondary School
Four students of the Field Biology Program
MVIHES
Pat Ashton, James Craig, Dick Dobler, Nancy Hancock, Pete Law, Don McDonnell, Ben McManus, Janet McManus, Bruce Murray, Michel Vallee (also a member of the Mid-Island Castaways Fly Fishing Club)
Shelly Creek drains from the base of Little Mountain in Parksville, B.C. It flows northeast into the Englishman River, approximately 2km from the Strait of Georgia. The confluence is located 200m upstream of the Island Highway Bridge. This channel is approximately 10km long, including its headwater tributaries and ditches. The lower reaches of Shelly Creek have been negatively impacted by agriculture and urbanization in the area. There are resident cutthroat trout found in Shelly Creek throughout the entire length of the stream, currently Cutthroat migration is now limited because of several man-made obstructions. Anadromous access ends 1000m from the confluence, where there is a 5m waterfall.
The 2013 trap project was funded through a D.F.O. public involvement program with support from D.F.O. community advisor, Dave Davies. Support was also provided by the Qualicum Beach Streamkeepers Society and M.V.I.H.E.S. (Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society).
Objectives:
This report covers the installation and operation of the Shelly Creek smolt trap in 2013.
Methods:
The smolt trap was installed approximately 200m upstream from the confluence with the Englishman River (Fig. 1). It was placed downstream of the Martindale Road culverts, which drain an upstream pond. The purpose of this location was to ascertain the anadromous use of this channel during months of high flow.
Figure 1. Shelly Creek, Parksville BC Trap Location
A V-weir trap design was decided upon for this site. The site was cleared of twigs and branches and prepared for trap installation.The trap was composed of wood panels placed in the bed of the creek. The panels were 4 feet high and 6 feet long and composed of a 2x4 wooden frame covered with ¼ inch galvanized mesh (Fig. 2). The trap was anchored into the streambed via sandbags and wooden backstays. Plastic sheets were placed on the streambed and covered with gravel, to encourage all of the water as well as fish, to pass through the trap.
The panels were angled to encourage smolts to enter a 6 inch collection pipe located in the middle of the trap. The pipe discharged into a 4ft x 6ft wooden trap box. Inside the trap box, a shelf was built to hold inventory supplies. A raft was also installed within the trap box for captured amphibians to crawl on top of, before they were released. The water velocity of Shelly Creek was not high enough to require baffles inside the trap box. During trap inspections, the screens were cleaned to prevent build up of debris. Debris build-up can cause increased water pressure on the trap and is a common cause of trap failure. A deck was built for the storage of counting pails. Access to the trap was improved with the construction of steps as well as a guide rope. The sign located next to the trap was installed by the MVIHES.
Figure 2. Shelly Creek Smolt Trap 2013
The trap box was checked daily by teams of volunteers. Daily inventory and fork lengths were recorded for coho smolts. Daily inventory was also recorded, for rainbow and cutthroat trout, sculpin and stickleback. Water level, water temperature and air temperature data was also gathered.
Results:
Smolt Numbers: The trap was in operation between April 1st and May 25th, 2013. Total fish counted during this period was 7564. Total counts for Coho smolts were 7265. There were 21 trout (both rainbow and cutthroat) caught in the trap during this time. Peak migration occurred shortly after the trap was installed on April 7th with 771 smolts counted in the trap (Fig 3).
Figure 3. 2013 Daily Salmonid Smolt Inventory at Shelly Creek (N=7564).
Temperature: Figure four shows daily water temperature readings for Shelly Creek during the trap operation (April 1st and May 26th, 2013). The peak temperature was 15.0°C on May 8th, 2013. The average temperature for this period was 8.9°C.
Figure 4. 2013 Daily Temperature Readings from Shelly Creek.
Discussion:
This was the third consecutive year that the trap was in place on Shelly Creek. With a total of 7564 smolts captured in 2013, this is down from 8094 in 2012 but within 7% and up considerably up from 2881 in 2011. The last two years have had records for precipitation and cool weather in spring resulting in the high smolt output. In dry, warm years the beaver dam ponds upstream are too warm and anoxic for long term use by the Coho smolts and they either die, leave earlier of never enter. The trap results prove the importance of offchannel habitat along the Englishman River. These areas offer winter flood refuge as well as spring feeding areas.
The reach where these smolts come from is along a farm pasture. This reach is less than optimal in fish habitat values such as shade and riparian input as it is mostly grass and willow along the edges of a wide historically dug channel. It is apparent that these poor habitat values are superseded by the importance of the refuge and feeding from the mainstem. The farm pasture is likely a high nutrient source to the pools and drives a high aquatic invertebrate biomass which feeds all of the refuge fish until they are ready to head to the ocean. A byproduct of the rich production is that the water quality ultimately fails in late spring or early summer and any remaining fish have to migrate down to the mainstem Englishman River for the summer period. These fish may come back in fall for refuge as rainfall and floods make the mainstem intolerable but resuscitate Shelly Creek. It is an apparent trade off that works, the fish have the highly productive Shelly farm reach for up to 9 months of the year and the Englishman River during the summer. With this unique habitat condition, Shelly Creek is producing way more fish than it would do on its own.
Improvements to the habitat in this reach should be carefully (i.e. “it works-don’t break it”) chosen after a thorough assessment of the year round water and habitat qualities. The ponds need to be measured, they are quite deep and may require a boat. The water quality regime needs to be monitored through a year. Fish in the ponds need to be assessed; when do they show up, and do they come and go, as well as what species. A minnow trap program and mark/recapture is an obvious method. Invertebrate sampling should be assessed with a Streamkeepers macro-invertebrate index in spring when the feeding is important.
At present the only suggestion I would make to help the smolt migration process is install temporary pipes in the beaver dams to ensure the fish can get out readily. These pipes should be tried with caution that they do not cause dewatering of the ponds and only carry enough water to accommodate fish travel. This effort may assist fish in getting down past the beaver dams when the flow is low and sticks are spread across a broad outlet crest with no defined exit.
Finally, it may be desirable to make improvements to the trap site for safety, installation and operation. I make the following suggestions respectfully without knowing if the trap crew have already thought these aspects out and determined what they can and can’t do. 1.) The access trail is very rough and steep, another access off the low lying south property should be investigated as it would be less visible to strangers looking to vandalize the site. Perhaps a board walk over the wetland could be built. 2.) The trap sill is only semi permanent and made fish proof by a sealing sheet of poly. A more permanent trap base of wood frame could be an option- it would have to be built in summer, but would allow a much quicker installation in the cold deep spring period. 3.) The operation could be made safer with the addition of more area to the portable flat deck for all the trap operators to stand on. Currently access is over rough ground and standing in the fish release water happens.
Acknowledgements:
The Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society and DR Clough Consulting would like to thank volunteers Brad Jackson, Gord Almond, Chuck Sigmund, Pat Vek, Carl Rathburn, David James, Lauren Fegan, Allan (Mickey) McDonald, Peter Law, Cassidy Hedden, John Phillips, Faye Smith and guests, Al, Mark, Amos, Ryan, Dan, Jake, Ross, for making this project possible..
Two of our diligent volunteers, Shelley and Carl, are conducting the annual Coho smolt count on Shelly Creek admidst the COVID 19 pandemic by staying 2 m away from each other. The fish, on the other hand, are not behaving themselves at all.
Every winter, flooding of the Englishman River sweeps Coho Salmon fry into the Martindale Pond (shown in the photo to the left), a section of the creek upstream of Martindale Road in Parksville. The fry remain in the pond for the winter, sheltered from the turbulent flows of the Englishman River, where they develop into smolts in the spring. The migration back to the Englishman River begins when water temperatures increase and oxygen levels in the pond begin to drop.
Each spring, we set up the smolt trap in Shelly Creek to count the Coho Salmon smolts as they migrate out of the pond to the Englishman River and out to the ocean. The trap includes a fence that directs the fish through a pipe into a box where the fish are held until they are counted and released into the creek, as seen in the photos to the right. (All photos were taken before social distancing measures.)
The smolt fence and box were installed by volunteers on March 15.
Normally, four to five people come to the the trap each morning to count the fish. But shortly after installation, the Province of BC advised people to self-isolate and conduct social distancing when around others to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus. MVIHES has limited the counting to two people, with one person recording data and a second handling the fish so that a distance of 2 m between volunteers can be maintained and equipment is not handled by more than one person. Not as much fun as previous years but if we all behave ourselves, this too shall pass.
The fish have a completely different attitude. There were 172 of them packed into the box today! In fact, a total of 1,115 smolts have been counted so far and we still have a few weeks of counting to go. The average number of smolts counted in a season is around 4,000, with the 2013 and 2018 seasons having over 7,000 smolts, and the 2012 season having over 8,000 smolts. This demonstrates the importance of Shelly Creek to the Englishman River Coho Salmon stocks. To learn more about Shelly Creek and read the latest report for comparing results from previous years, click here.
Smolts (and a red-legged frog) are netted from the box and placed in a tub to be identified and counted.
Every winter, flooding of the Englishman River sweeps Coho Salmon fry into the 
The fish have a completely different attitude. There were 172 of them packed into the box today! In fact, a total of 1,115 smolts have been counted so far and we still have a few weeks of counting to go. The average number of smolts counted in a season is around 4,000, with the 2013 and 2018 seasons having over 7,000 smolts, and the 2012 season having over 8,000 smolts. This demonstrates the importance of Shelly Creek to the Englishman River Coho Salmon stocks. To learn more about Shelly Creek and read the latest report for comparing results from previous years, click