Egg Take Complete for 2022 Broodstock Season

View fullsize

Children are given a look at just-fertilized salmon eggs from the incubation room door at Hoy Creek Hatchery.

Here is our hatchery manager’s update on our 2022 Broodstock:

• Chum

  • We have spawned 12 pairs (m/f) with a total green egg estimate of just over 35,000

  • Chum collection is done for the year

• Coho

  • We have spawned 7 pairs(8m/7f) with a total green egg estimate just over 16,800

  • Coho collection is done for the year

Thanks to all the volunteers who supported these activities, and to our daily volunteers who monitor and maintain our equipment.

View fullsize

Thomas picks dead eggs from the Chum salmon incubation stack at Hoy Creek Hatchery as Adela looks on.

Hoy Creek Hatchery Stop on Communities in Bloom Tour

View fullsize

Seen left to right: Anne Woosnam, HSWS Asst. Hatchery Manager; Berta Briggs, CiB Judge; Larry Hall, CiB Judge; and Caresse Selk, Environment Manager, City of Coquitlam.

On July 21 the judges from the Communities in Bloom (CiB) - Collectivités en fleurs competition came by to tour the Hoy Creek Hatchery. They were accompanied by representatives of the City of Coquitlam which is a competitor in the annual competition that "inspires all communities to enhance the quality of life and our environment through people and plants in order to create community pride." The CiB theme for 2022 is "Growing Great Places Together."

Assistant hatchery manager, Anne Woosnam led the tour for the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society.

"Communities in Bloom - Collectivités en fleurs is about greening through environmental, natural heritage conservation and horticultural actions that involve citizens, businesses, institutions, and municipalities. The program is focused on environmental stewardship through enhancement of green spaces."

On July 21 and 22, CiB judges, Berta Briggs and Larry Hall spent busy days visiting City parks and locations and the salmon hatchery is one of the key places in the city that exemplify their ethos.

10,000 Coho Marked at Hoy Creek Hatchery

View fullsize

HSWS student volunteer, Ririka works alongside DFO members on her first fin-clip.

On June 10 our annual adipose fin clipping session took place at Hoy Creek Hatchery. Over 10,000 Coho fry, approximately 6 months old had their adipose fin removed to identify them as 'hatchery fish.'

Led by hatchery manager Tyler Storgaard, the procedure is overseen by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada who had three members on-site assisting. The adipose fin, located at the top back of the salmon is removed after the fish have been sedated. It's a fast process and many careful hands make light work.

View fullsize

The clipping station set up outside the Hoy Creek Hatchery on June 10, 2021.

The markings also help the society identify the hatchery fish during returns in the fall.

Thanks to Hoy-Scott Watershed volunteers who put in the time to assist with this exercise.

The fish will be moved to the outdoor rearing pond in the coming days and will remain there until May of 2022.

• View more photos in our Facebook album.

View fullsize

Sedation area

HSWS Collaboration with Flowlink Discussed

View fullsize

Left to right: Tom Hayes, Co-founder, Flowlink Environmental; Robbin Whachell, President, HSWS; and Elena Ranyuk, Co-founder, Flowlink.

The Hoy/Scott Watershed Society was contacted by Flowlink Environmental in January 2021 and they then attended our monthly meeting that month to present the work they do related to water-monitoring solutions.

After providing an initial Hoy Creek water sample test result they came to visit the Hoy Creek Hatchery for a tour and walked the Hoy Creek Trail to be shown the most common areas where spill inflows have been detected over the years.

The Society is looking forward to collaborating with Flowlink in order to find solutions in keeping the salmon in the hatchery and the creek safe.

Left to right: Kim Mayes, Director, HSWS; Elena Ranyak, Co-founder, Flowlink; Tom Hayes, Co-founder, Flowlink; and Tyler Storgaard, VP and Hatchery Manager, HSWS.

HSWS Continues Adults Salmon Spawner Survey in 2020

Rodney Lee, (right) speaks to three of the four volunteers (left to right: Anne Woosman, Jerome Cho, and Hannah Blanchard about that day’s spawner survey tasks.

Former hatchery manager and Hoy/Scott Watershed Society director, Rodney Lee led a spawner survey in 2020.

Spawner surveys are a basic form of stock assessment where the data can be used to gauge the health of salmon returns. In short, we walk the creek and count live and dead salmon (by species) to get a sense for the number of returning fish. Data is submitted to the Streamkeeper’s database as well as to the DFO.

Four of our volunteers participated and went out each Saturday between Sept. 26 and Nov. 7. Participants had to walk in chest waders in and around the stream including stepping over fallen trees, walking on in-stream rocks and muddy banks, and crouching under overhanging tree branches to identify salmon species targeting chum and coho but occasionally other species (chinook, pink) may have been seen.

Thanks to those who participated!

View fullsize

Left to right: Maiya Callister, Anne Woosman, and Jerome Cho.

Surplus Coho Salmon Fry Released by Hoy/Scott Watershed Society

View fullsize

Hatchery manager, Rodney Lee buckets coho fry for transfer to another location.

In May 2020, Hoy Creek Hatchery held approximately 13,620 coho fry.

Hoy-Scott Watershed Society's annual aquaculture license with federal fisheries allows us to incubate up to 25,000 eggs but only release 5,000 1-year-old Coho smolts from that brood year in May.

Any excess are released to the Upper Hoy and Scott Creeks to areas of the stream where wild fry are not present. In addition, fry are released to Pinnacle Pond. From those locations, the Coho fry can make use of the habitat, grow and eventually make their way out to the ocean to complete their lifecycle.

On May 16, HSWS volunteers Rodney Lee and Tyler Storgaard weighed and counted out our surplus of 8,620 fry and loaded up the truck for transport and released them at 5 different locations. The fry weighed approximately 1.3 grams and are about 5 months old.

View fullsize

Transfer tub in the back of the truck

The Coquitlam locations where surplus coho fry were released on Saturday were: Upper Hoy Creek at Camelback Ct off of Plateau; Upper Scott Creek at Panorama by Bramblewood; Upper Scott Creek at Tanglewood Lane; Beaver Pond at Scott Creek; Lower Beaver Pond; and Pinnacle Pond.

Once our remaining fry grow to 2 – 3 grams they will be ready for marking, and will have their adipose fins clipped to identify them as hatchery fish. Our hatchery fry continue to be hand-fed twice per day.

After clipping they will be transferred to the rearing pond west of the hatchery where they will mature until the Salmon Leave Home event in May 2021.

View fullsize

The fry weighed approximately 1.3 grams and are about 5 months old.

View fullsize

Hatchery Update – The Coho Fry Stage

View fullsize

Coho fry approximately 5 month old.

Since our last update, a lot has changed, not only with our eggs hatching, alevin emerging and now maturing to swim-up fry but the global pandemic we face.  As a result of COVID-19, Hoy-Scott Watershed Society has made the decision to cancel all Saturday work sessions, all in-person meetings, and hatchery tours or open houses until further notice including our annual Salmon Leave Home event.  

Behind the scenes, our volunteers continue to provide the daily aquaculture care including feeding, filter and equipment/tank cleaning supporting the 2018/2019 broodstock held in our rearing pond and the 2019/2020 swim-up fry that have been transferred from the incubator to our Capilano trough.

Three of our four Coho Salmon trays in the incubator have matured to fry with only a faint reminder on their bellies where a yolk sack once was (from the Alevin lifecycle stage).  These three trays have been transferred to our Capilano trough and all at different times as they each reach their maturity as swim-up fry. As of today, we have almost 8000 fry held in our Capilano trough (on the east side of the hatchery building), and the final incubator tray is just days away from joining the rest as they mature. Our survival rate has been over 99% with this year's collection and we will have almost 14,000 coho salmon.

Fry are ponded and move from the incubation room to the Capilano trough on the east side of the hatchery.

When first ponded, the fry undergo a vital change – it takes some time (between 20-40 mins or more), but they eventually swim-up to the surface to take in air.  Over a period, they will take several surface gulps of air that fill up their swim bladder allowing them to hold a position in the water (i.e. float). As the fry begin to stabilize and adjust to this new environment, we begin to feed them with food for their first time; previously as alevin, they fed off their yolk sacks. 

Our fry along with wild salmon have developed dark bars on their sides by now, called parr marks.  In a natural environment, these bars help them to camouflage with the gravel and blend in with their surroundings to hide from predators like birds.  Coho fry within Hoy creek and other estuaries will be visible if you are to patiently wait and watch long enough in eddies and still pools.

As the weather improves, we find ourselves getting out to complete yard work, clean the exterior of the house, clean the car, among many other activities.  With each of these activities, we should stop and think about where the fertilizer run-off goes, the same about the paint that fell off the fence or house during washing, the soap that removed the grime from the car and even the sand with some murky water that left the driveway bright grey once again.  All of these are pollutants and we must each do our part to ensure these don’t end up in our watershed or elsewhere in the environment. 

Also when taking a walk through the watershed on sunny days, remember how nice it is to be in the cool shade.  Wild salmon in the creek including our hatchery fish rely on shade created from large boulders, overhanging bushes, tree stumps or fallen logs to keep the water cool.  Wooded debris in the creek not only provides shade but food sources and also acts as a natural aerator to keep up the oxygen in the water for the fish to survive. Please remember to leave the branches, logs and creek banks the way they are found to ensure the creek remains stable, healthy and productive with life.

If you have questions or are interested in volunteering with the society, please contact us at hoyscottwatershed@gmail.com. Be sure to check out our Facebook page for more photos of our work and of nature along the watershed.

MP for Coquitlam Visits Hoy Creek Hatchery

Thank you Ron McKinnon, Member of Parliament for Coquitlam - Port Coquitlam for taking time and interest in the Hoy - Scott Watershed Society. It was great to show you and some of your team around the Hoy Creek Fish Hatchery and rearing pond area.

On Wednesday, March 4, minister of parliament for Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, Ron McKinnon visited Hoy Creek salmon hatchery to learn about the work of the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society.

The tour was led by society president, Robbin Whachell and Fisheries & Oceans Canada community advisor Scott Ducharme reviewed the incubation room which now holds close to 15,000 coho salmon in stages from eyed-egg to alevins ready to soon swim-up to fry stage.

“Thank you Robbin, for giving me an amazing tour of the community hatchery! It was great to see all the Coho at different stages of incubation,” said MP McKinnon said on his social media page after the visit. “Hoy-Scott Watershed Society is a volunteer-run society committed to environmental stewardship of Hoy-Scott watershed.”

“The work done by Hoy-Scott Watershed Society helps make a sustainable future for our salmon population a reality while ensuring the protection of their natural habitat.”

Scott Ducharme of Fisheries & Oceans Canada shows MP McKinnon coho alevins in the incubation room of Hoy Creek Hatchery.

Left to right: President of Hoy/Scott Watershed Society, Robbin Whachell; Ron McKinnon, MP for Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, and Scott Ducharme, Community Advisor, Fisheries & Oceans Canada.

Hatchery Update – Understanding ATUs

Coho salmon eggs (Photo: HSWS)

For salmonid enhancement purposes Hoy-Scott Watershed Society members actively fished and monitored for coho salmon broodstock collections in late 2019, however due to low returns efforts for collection ceased early.

Our team was successful in a coho broodstock collection of close to 15,000 eggs. 3 of our 4 trays

in the incubator have reached the eyed stage and  have now been shocked (addled). The 4th tray is nearing the ATU (Accumulated Thermal Units) where we will see the eggs becoming eyed as the next stage in their life cycle.

To date, survival rates of the fertilized eggs have been excellent which can be a result of many factors including water temperature/quality, handling by staff, disinfection of eggs to equipment and biosecurity. As a reminder to all, water quality can deteriorate from road salts, ice melting products, heavy rains and discharging of spa equipment (pools/hot tubs) to storm drains.The hatchery water supply is fed entirely from Hoy Creek, and harmful substances can effect broodstock mortality in the hatchery as well as the mortality of wild salmon who have spawned in the creek.

HSWS fish trap in Hoy Creek used for broodstock collection. (HSWS photo)

We've been experiencing low water temperatures since late November and this will naturally slow the broodstock's development. In predicting the hatch we calculate ATU's (Accumulated Thermal Units) which are recorded daily. As the eggs approach 448 - 475 ATU, we will see the next stage. The hatch is a result of free oxygen in the egg and as the embryo requires more, it breaks free of the shell but holds on to the yolk sack (food source). 

This next stage is Alevins - more on this in the next update.

Coho fry held in our rearing pond are healthy and at little risk of mortality during this time of year having a higher amount of dissolved oxygen than we would see during warm water temperatures throughout the summer months. However, they are susceptible to environmental conditions such as water quality as mentioned as earlier. The Fry are slower to respond at this time of year due to lower temperatures and when below 6 C, feeding is even withheld due to a slowing metabolic rate in the Fry.

Eggs being prepared for incubation at Hoy Creek Hatchery (Photo:HSWS)

ATUs explained:

ATU stands for Accumulated Thermal Units. This is the method we use to predict when our salmon eggs will hatch, as well as keep track of the progress of our eggs. Here's how it works:

1. On the day the fish are spawned, we measure the water temperature, and record it in the "temp" column in our logs, as well as the ATU column.

2. Each day, the assigned volunteer goes to the hatchery, records the water temperature in the current day "temp" column, and adds it to the previous day's entry in the ATU column.

For example, if the temperature is 9 degrees on Nov. 7 and 9 degrees on Nov. 8, then the ATU would be 18; and if the temperature is 10 degrees on Nov. 9 the new total would = 28 ATUs.

Once this number hits ~ 250 we will know the eggs are eyed and we can clean them. The eggs develop according to water temperature, cooler water, slower development.

In our next update we'll cover the next milestone (Alevin stage) in coho salmon development.

If you have questions or are interested in volunteering with the society, please contact us at hoyscottwatershed@gmail.com.

(Written by Tyler Storgaard, Asst. Hatchery Manager)

Inside the incubation room at Hoy Creek Hatchery. Calculations of broodstock. (HSWS photo)

Rain Forecast Hopeful for Salmon Coming Home

Broodstock collection: A coho salmon caught in 2018 for the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society’s salmon enhancement program. (HSWS photo)

The annual event hosted by the City of Coquitlam and the Hoy-Scott Watershed Society takes place this Sunday, Oct. 20 covering an expanded area. The main festival site will be set up behind Pinetree Community Centre between Douglas College David Lam Campus and Pinetree Secondary School, which is just steps away from the Hoy Trail where residents can take a ‘watershed walk’ along Hoy Trail to Hoy Creek Hatchery.

“We’re excited about this year’s new layout,” said the president of Hoy-Scott Watershed Society, Robbin Whachell. “The event attracts a lot of people, and it had become quite tight around the hatchery and creek, in particular with the growth of the surrounding trees. Now we have so much more space, and everyone can enjoy the forest walk from Pinetree which provides some close views of Hoy Creek. Once at the hatchery, which is adjacent to the creek, hatchery volunteers will provide educational talks with live salmon and give hatchery tours.”

The big question everyone is already asking is, “Where are the salmon?”

“We’ve been checking the creek daily for signs of return. Steam water levels are low again, and we’re hoping the rain forecast for this week will bring the salmon home. We have heard salmon are in the Coquitlam River, so they are almost here,“ said Whachell.

Hatchery manager, Rodney Lee providing a talk on the salmon life cycle in 2018 in front of the hatchery rearing pond.

The Society runs a year-round salmon enhancement program focusing on chum and coho stocks and has already prepared for the upcoming broodstock collection.

Even if the salmon do not return in time for the event, it will be an excellent opportunity to explore the watershed and learn from local environmental groups. The hatchery rearing pond has close to 3000 fingerlings, just short from the usual 5000 after the fish kill incident in May. Young wild salmon can also be spotted in the stream in various areas.

“With the environment taking such a strong focus in world news today, one can’t help but worry about the salmon return. Nature is resilient, however, and every year the salmon do arrive. It’s hard to remain patient,” said Whachell. “We have people emailing us asking what day they will arrive, and the best thing to do is keep tabs on our Facebook page. We’ll announce as soon as they show up.”

Visitors are encouraged to start their visit to Salmon Come Home on Sunday at Pinetree Community Centre and enjoy the 'Watershed Walk' to the hatchery. Visitors can use this handy event map to assist with their visit. The event runs rain or shine from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Salmon viewing

There will also be food trucks, live entertainment, a scavenger hunt, face-painting and more.

Maple Creek Watershed Streamkeepers will be attending again performing a salmon dissection.

Location & Parking

The Hoy Creek Hatchery is located in Hoy Creek Linear Park, west of the City Centre Aquatic Complex, 1210 Pinetree Way (Pinetree and Guildford Way) and the Pinetree Community Centre, located at 1260 Pinetree Way, just north of Douglas College.

Free parking is available at Coquitlam City Hall, Pinetree Community Centre and Douglas College. Both Pinetree Community Centre and the Hoy Creek Hatchery are also a 7-minute walk from the Lafarge Lake-Douglas SkyTrain Station.

Visitors can use this handy event map to assist with their visit.

More information is available at www.coquitlam.ca/salmoncomehome and  www.hoyscottcreeks.org.  

Thank you to Vancity, Fisheries & Oceans Canada, and the Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program.

RSVP TO THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

Angela Brown’s nylon zoo red salmon will be spawning at Salmon Come Home on Oct. 20, 2019. Come inside, hear a story and dress up in costumes provided for a parade in the watershed.