Volunteers on the Go - Part IV

Written on 28 August 2021.

The unusual drought we're experiencing this summer has left creeks and rivers on the east side of Vancouver Island with very low flows, putting pressure on our fish stocks. The situation is so serious that the BC River Forecast Centre is "expecting fish to die in the shallow, warm rivers this summer and are asking people to call the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP) if they see any significant numbers of dead fish that could be caused by the hot dry weather." CHEK News broadcast the Centre's concern on July 6 which included a segment with MVIHES Vice President, Pete Law, on our concerns with lows flows in Shelly Creek. Our volunteers jumped into action.

Fish Wranglers to the Rescue

MVIHES volunteer and Director, Dick Dobler, rounded up some of his friends to rescue salmon fry and smolts stranded in shallow pools in the Englishman River and French Creek. So far they have relocated over 5,000 fry and several hundred smolt into areas of the river and creek that improve their chances of survival. This caught the attention of the Freshwater Alliance which has been following fish rescue activities across the island. They sent their student, Katia Bannister, to cover the action and take the photos shown below.

      Looking for fish in French Creek                       Capturing fish with a pole seine net                 Transferring fish from the net to a pail

                                  The Fish Wranglers left to right: Dick Dobler, Doyle Meservia, Randy Walz, Rick Walz 

Katia has posted her experience covering the guys on their quest on her blog. Thank you Katia!

Yellow Fish and Brown is the New Green

This summer we brought back the Yellow Fish Program with a twist. A few years ago MVIHES ran a water conservation program where homeowners pledged to leave more water in the creeks and rivers for the fish by not watering their lawns in the summer, allowing them to go brown. In return, they would get a yellow wooden sign in the shape of a fish to put on their lawn. The neighbours would ask about the signs and the message about water conservation would get passed on. This summer we need water conservation more than ever.  

 Earlier in the year, 96 wooden fish were produced by Kees Luchs, a professional wood artisan. The next and messiest step was getting the fish painted a bright yellow. Two fish painting parties were held this summer as seen in the photos below.

                            Don McConnell puts on a second coat                              Brian Lea "Who me? Spill the paint?"

The twist is we have added a message on the fish: "brown is the new green" to make the transition from a green lawn to a brown lawn a cool trend. The other fish painters included Sue Wilson, Pat Ashton, Catherine Watson and Barb Riordan.                                                                                                                                                                                          Shelley Goertzen shows off her new gold highlights                                                                                     

A few of the yellow fish signs were given to people who made the pledge at the Shelly Creek Neighbourhood Information Session on August 28. The session was organized by Pete Law and MVIHES volunteer, Ross Peterson (in the yellow vest) who informed residents on how they can manage rainfall in their yards to benefit Shelly Creek, and included a great demonstration. But that's another story coming soon.

Shelly Creek Pit Tagging Project

Written on 02 July 2021.

"survival bottleneck" -  an event that drastically reduces the size of a population.

Our last article talked about our participation in the PIT tagging program occurring on Vancouver Island as part of an investigation into "survival bottlenecks" of Coho and Chinook salmon and Steelhead trout populations to explain their drastic decline in the Salish Sea. We have expanded on that theme and begun a PIT tagging program of our own on the resident Cutthroat trout population in Shelly Creek. Our interest is in the migratory habits of this population which inhabits the section of creek that runs through Shelly Park (located at Corfield Street and Butler Ave in Parksville). How far does their home range extend in the creek? This is important to know if this unique population of Coastal Cutthroat Trout is to be protected. We also hope to learn if their movement through the creek is being obstructed by culverts, do any of the trout every migrate downstream into the Englishman River, and are there habitat conditions in the creek they avoid or prefer?

A Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag is a very small cylindrical metal tag implanted into the abdomen of a  juvenile fish. Each tag contains a unique code with information about the fish, like the species, age, date and location of where it was tagged. When a tagged fish swims over antenna arrays that have been installed across the bottom of a creek, the code is picked up and stored by the arrays so the movements of individuals can be tracked. MVIHES volunteer, Pete Law, applied for and received a grant from the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC to purchase the equipment for assembling the antennae array that will track the tagged fish.  

We realized early on that we needed some "young blood" involved in this study. Ally Badger, a Biology student at Vancouver Island University (VIU), has taken on this project as part of her studies for her degree. Since she is working for the BC Conservation Foundation (BCCF) who has been implanting PIT tags into Coho, Chinook and Steelhead fry, this seemed the perfect fit. The left-hand photo shows Thea Rodgers of BCCF, left, and Ally, right, preparing to implant tags as MVIHES volunteer David Erickson "supervises".

The right-hand photo shows MVIHES volunteers (Pete Law, upper left; Dick Dobler, lower left; and David Erickson, right) capturing trout for tagging using a pole seine net. The creek is now at its summer low flow condition so further tagging will resume in fall so the fish are not unduly stressed. To learn the results of the study, read Ally's report.

Many thanks to our sponsor: