Little River Enhancement Society 2023 Projects Update
Little River Enhancement Society would like to thank our volunteers for the exceptional work undertaken this year to improve salmon habitat and spawning opportunities in the Little River and continually improve hatchery operations.
Our first project was the rehabilitation of four spawning beds in the Little River between Little River and Wilkinson Roads, a section utilized by coho, chum and pink salmon. The second project was the removal of three debris jams from a section adjacent to Ellenor Road, which jams were impeding salmon from the upper reaches of the river.
The timing of these project was very fortuitous as we saw the largest returns of coho, chum and pinks that we have experienced for many years. In a typical year, we count 600 -700 returning salmon. This year we have counted over 2,219 salmon to date, with a healthy mix of wild and clipped hatchery coho.
A significant hatchery project was the replacement of a smaller water intake line with a 6” line. This new line will assist in maintaining flow levels to our incubation facility and rearing tanks.
Little River Enhancement Society would particularly like to express our appreciation to our community donors for their provision of goods in kind, services and money, without which we would be unable to undertake our projects and maintain and improve our hatchery facility. This year our donors, in alphabetical order, include Andrew Sheret, Artisan Marine, Beaver Meadow Farms, Cameron Contracting, Comox Valley Regional District, Dave Proctor of Ellie’s Farm, Edgett Excavating, Fisheries & Oceans Canada, Leighton Contracting, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Roc Contracting and Vancouver Island Enterprises.
The River Never Sleeps Festival At Rosewall Hatchery
The annual celeabration of salmon and their ecosystems was held on May 1st at the Rosewall hatchery with booths from many enhancement societies from Victoria to Campbell river in attendance, as well as a number of commerial companies and organizations. LRES was represented with a booth and members. Public attendance was great and members were busy all day with inquiries. For the public this was a great opportuntity to find out about salmon and nature. Don’t miss the festival in 2023.
Little River Watershed Map Update July 14, 2021
LRES has updated the Little River watershed map as continued land development has occurred over the years since the last map. With this version we have added LRES’s restoration sites marked with the green ball. We want to thank Jay at Project Watershed for his assistance in the update.
2021 Coho Smolt Outward Migration Count (June 2, 20121)
Today we finished our Coho smolt outward bound to the ocean count with the trap being in place this year from March 28th to June 2nd. The count this year was 12,548 Coho smolts, 171 cutthroat trout, 14 Pacific lamprey, numerous sculpins, sticklebacks and crayfish. We would like to thank all the members for their dedicated work, and the general public for their interest in the count.
Stream To Sea Program (May 2021)
Children and Salmon
We have just completed a successful season of salmon enhancement with some children from Airport School. One hundred eyed up Coho eggs were delivered in early January 2021 and placed in 2 classroom aquariums where students in grades 1 to 3 experienced the miracle of hatching. After some adjustments that considered the importance of water quality and temperature, they observed and documented the changes from eggs to alevins to fry. Tanks, equipment and feed were provided by Sarah Wolfe, DFO’s educational coordinator and liaison with many Mid Island schools.
Students released their fry into Scales Creek with much ceremony in late April. Here is a first hand account from teacher Wendy Rudolph. She and Lauren Geneau are thankful for our participation and look forward to working with us again next year with hopefully an expanded program.
“Our releases were wonderful. Lauren just released her classroom’s Coho fry this week and my classroom released ours two weeks ago. The students loved it and also got a chance to see many aquatic insects. We are studying food webs and ecosystems so the release was a great opportunity to do a stream study. Here are some photos. It was a great afternoon. The creek had lots of water and the skunk cabbage wasn’t too big.” -Wendy Rudolph
Final 2020 Results of Salmon Through The Trap/Fence (December 5,2020) This year we installed our trap/fence at the end of September and re-opened the water way on November 28th. During that time we counted and passed up stream a total of 388 Adult Coho and 145 Coho jacks for a total of 533 Coho, 42 Chum, 1 Chinook and 1 Cutthroat Trout. Our largest count day was November 3rd when 154 salmon passed up stream. Numerous Coho and Chum pairs were seen spawning below our trap in the stream down to Wally road. Fish Through The Trap/Fence (Nov 17, 2020) As of November 17, 2020, 489 Coho, 38 Chum and 3 others for a total of 530 had passed the trap/fence for this season. There were 3 instances this month where rainfall had increased the Little River water levels to where our fence for a short time was under water allowing salmon to pass uncounted. After members had cleaned the debris on November 17, 2020, the fence rose back to it’s normal position.
Rotary Donation (October 23, 2020)
Little River Enhancement Society thanks the Rotary Club of Courtenay for its generous donation of $2,500, being proceeds from its August 2020 fun derby. These funds enabled the Society to build a bridge to safely access the returning fish in our counting fence. Covid-19 Safety Plan (July 15, 2020) Little River Enhancement Society adopted a Covid-19 Safety Plan effective July 15, 2020 a summary of which follows. The full policy is available on request. The policy is primarily mandated by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans or WorkSafe BC. Covid-19 Policy and Procedures 1. PURPOSE: To ensure a safe work environment for all Little River Enhancement Society (LRES) members/volunteers and those volunteers who will be assisting LRES with essential projects 2. POLICY Members of the public and family or friends of LRES members/volunteers should not be on site LRES members, authorized volunteers and DFO personnel must NOT be on the LRES Hatchery site if they: • currently have COVID‐19-like symptoms such as a sore throat, fever, sneezing, or coughing; • have travelled internationally in the last 14 days; • live in the same household as a confirmed or clinical COVID-19 case who is self-isolating; or • have been exposed to anyone confirmed to have COVID-19, or to anyone with possible symptoms of COVID-19. 3. PROTOCOL / PROCEDURES WHILE AT HATCHERY Wash hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer when: • entering and leaving the main building; • entering and leaving the Maintenance Building; • between touching surfaces within either building; and • before and after breaks, after handling materials, before and after handling common tools and equipment. All volunteers will maintain two-meter distance between each other. At any one time, a maximum of two people in the maintenance building, three people in the trough room, one person in the incubation room and three people in the egg take room. The washup area will be cleaned weekly by an assigned volunteer. The last person leaving the building for the day will clean all handles and door knobs within building using the approved multi-purpose spray cleaner and cloth. Equipment shared by volunteers needs to be cleansed between each volunteer’s use with the approved government cleanser. All volunteers brought on site for a necessary project need to sign in and out. July 15, 2020