VALEMOUNT – Thousands of baby Chinook Salmon began their journey after being released into Swift Creek at George Hicks Regional Park in Valemount, B.C. on Sunday (June 8).
Dustin Snyder, president of the Spruce City Wildlife Association, said the goal of the annual release was to give a boost to the Upper Fraser Chinook stocks, which are all considered endangered.
“In a perfect world, we want to be able to get this run to a sustainable level where we can step away and let nature take its course without our hands being in there,” Snyder said. “For now, it’s better with our hands being in there.”
Snyder estimated they were releasing 8,800 baby salmon this year.
Swift Creek intersects with the McLennan River, a tributary of the Fraser River, the longest river within British Columbia that stretches to the Straight of Georgia just south of Vancouver.
These salmon have a five-year lifecycle where they spend two years making their way down the river, three years in the Pacific Ocean and then head back upstream to spawn.
“We’re hoping for a five per cent return, but the average in the wild is more so about one per cent,” Snyder said. “If we get somewhere in the middle there, we’re happy.”
Participants had a chance to release a fish of their own down the “fry slide” as well as enjoy a community barbecue and check out the tourism information booths and children’s activities.
“This is the fourth year of the salmon release,” said Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson during remarks at the event. “It sounds like over the four years, it’s been 92,492 salmon fry released.”
The event was held by the Spruce City Wildlife Association, Tourism Valemount, the Simpcw First Nation, the Valemount Community Forest and the Village of Valemount.
“It’s been awesome to see the small community kind of rally around this cause and seeing an awesome turnout like this on a beautiful day,” Snyder said, adding they would return in August for the brood capture.
Swift Creek is a salmon spawning area in the late summer and early fall. Visitors are asked to stay four feet back from the shore so their shadows do not chase the spawners off their nests, which may leave them without the strength to finish spawning.
People should also stay out of the water to avoid scaring away the fish or destroying their eggs.
