Pink Salmon ImplantSandie from DFO coordinated with Tenderfoot Hatchery to allocate some eggs for Mosquito Creek.
We set out to plant the eyed-eggs into the gravel bed of Mosquito Creek, similar to a female salmon would in the wild. The implanting process is necessary for Pink salmon on systems that don't have a hatchery on site. This is because Pink and Chum salmon alike leave to begin their ocean journey as soon as they leave the gravel as fry. To achieve the best chance for the fry to return as adults, they need to spend the longest amount of time "imprinting" on the system in which they are born. Thus, simply taking the swimming fry from a foreign hatchery and releasing them in the new creek does not work. This is because once released in the new system they will leave immediately to the ocean without sufficient imprinting time. Once their ocean migration is completed they would return to the hatchery system instead of the system in which they were released as fry. Explaining aside, it was a very successful morning. Brian and Steve surprised us and joined in on the fun. We deposited about 18,000 eggs into the gravel of Mosquito Creek. Later Neptune Terminals showed up to assist with the final 2,000 eggs. A council member from Squamish Nation was kind enough to spare time to accept a $20,000 donation from Neptune. These funds will go towards the Lower Mosquito Creek Salmon Enhancement Project, which is now slated to begin the 2nd week of August 2020. Thank you Neptune!!
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AuthorKeegan Casidy Archives
January 2020
CategoriesMosquito Creek,
North Vancouver, British Columbia |