salmon release

Coho Released on May 18

With optimal weather conditions and no fanfare, the Coho salmon housed in the Hoy Creek Hatchery rearing pond were released on May 18.

In 2024 the Hoy/Scott Watershed Society shifted focus of the public release to Chum salmon, because our chum salmon, unlike Coho, do not reside in fresh water for an extended period.

Volunteers lifted the slats to the rearing pond outflow and the Coho were on their way.

Once released to the creek, the Chum begin their journey to the ocean: Hoy Creek → Scott Creek → Coquitlam River → Fraser River → Strait of Georgia into the Pacific Ocean.

The rearing pond will next be cleaned, and prepared for the incoming Coho fry in the hatchery’s Capilano trough room.

Surplus Coho Fry Released

Matt nets some Coho fry to release into the creek.

On June 29, Hoy Creek Hatchery held approximately 8,405 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 other creek areas. 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.

Transport bin.

Matt releasing fish into the stream.

HSWS volunteers Tyler Storgaard and Matthew Watts weighed and counted out our surplus fry (5,265), loaded up the truck for transport and released them at 8 different locations along Hoy and Scott creeks. The fry weighed approximately 3.5 grams and are about 5 months old.

The remaining hatchery fry will be transferred to the rearing pond at Hoy Creek and will remain there until they will be released at our Salmon Leave Home event in May 2024.

Earlier than expected release of 23,500 chum fry to Hoy Creek

Bucket after bucket was carried from the hatchery to Hoy Creek just south of the hatchery for release.

Not even a month in Hoy Creek Hatchery’s Capilano trough, 23,500 chum fry made an earlier than expected exit into Hoy Creek on March 20.

The chum had to make way for the coho fry which were ready to leave the incubation stack.

The last time the Society raised and released chum fry was in 2017, and before that, the society had not raised chum salmon since the mid-90s.

The hatchery Capilano trough now houses around 10,500 coho and the outdoor rearing pond holds approximately 2,800 soon-to-be smolts that will be released in May.

A closer view of the chum salmon fry released on March 20, 2021

Hoy-Scott Watershed Society releases surplus salmon fry

A Hoy-Scott Watershed Society volunteer releases surplus coho fry into upper Scott Creek (Photo: Ed Paulino / HSWS)

A Hoy-Scott Watershed Society volunteer releases surplus coho fry into upper Scott Creek (Photo: Ed Paulino / HSWS)

In May 2016, we had approximately 19,000 coho fry at Hoy Creek Hatchery.  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 23rd, HSWS volunteers (Rodney, Chris F, Alex, Dulce & Ed) weighed and counted out our surplus and loaded up the truck for transport and released them at 5 different locations.  The fry weighed approximately 1.3 grams and were about 5 months old.

Hatchery manager, Rodney Lee looks over his son releasing surplus salmon into the creek on May 23rd in Coquitlam.  (Photo: Ed Paulino / HSWS)

Hatchery manager, Rodney Lee looks over his son releasing surplus salmon into the creek on May 23rd in Coquitlam.  (Photo: Ed Paulino / HSWS)

While at these release sites, we observed some larger trout with the smallest being 4-5" and the largest 6-7" but no small fry were present. We also saw a black bear.

The locations we released the surplus coho fry to on Monday, May 23rd were:

Upper Hoy - Camelback Ct off of Plateau; Upper Scott - Panorama by Bramblewood; Upper Hoy - by Plateau Village at Johnson and Plateau; Upper Scott - Hydro pond at the top of Eagle Mountain Drive; and Pinnacle Pond.

Dulce releases surplus salmon into Scott Creek(Photo: Ed Paulino)

Dulce releases surplus salmon into Scott Creek(Photo: Ed Paulino)

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.

See MORE PHOTOS from the release on our Facebook album.

This healthy looking black bear was spotted by our team beside Pinnacle Pond, Coquitlam (Photo: Ed Paulino / HSWS)

This healthy looking black bear was spotted by our team beside Pinnacle Pond, Coquitlam (Photo: Ed Paulino / HSWS)