Ditches can be fish habitat too
Fish can be found in some unlikely places as Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society (MVIHES) discovered when they took over the Fish in the Ditch Atlas project from Parksville Streamkeepers last year.
During fall, winter and spring when water is flowing consistently in roadside ditches, cutthroat trout, coho fry, rainbow trout and stickleback can be seen utilizing that habitat. MVIHES wants to protect these ditches and previously unmapped streams from inadvertent cleaning or other alteration whenever the fish are likely to be present.
MVIHES compiled an atlas showing watercourses from Deep Bay to Lantzville. It includes fish bearing watercourses mapped by the RDN as well as the fish bearing ditches and streams that were added by MVIHES. The Fish Bearing 
Streams and Ditches Atlas will alert road maintenance managers, agency staff and planners of the possibility of fish habitat in areas that may require attention. A fish bearing ditch could also be subject to Riparian Area Regulations.
Project Coordinator, Faye Smith, noted that MVIHES cannot vouch for fish presence in every watercourse in the atlas, but when a road crosses one of the streams, special precautions should be taken if there is an open ditch nearby. She and the others involved in the project were often surprised by what they found. For example, there were 8-inch trout in the Church Road ditch, coho fry and rainbow trout on Grafton Road, stickleback on Despard and coho fry in the Mills Street storm drain. "They're all important", said Smith, "and MVIHES wants to protect them".
Support for the project came from the Ministry of Transportation, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Regional District of Nanaimo.
Ron Kirk, Manager, Emcon Services, Parksville, having a look at the new Fish Bearing Streams and Ditches Atlas