A week after the first fish discovered to have crossed the Seymour River rock slide site under their own power, the Seymour Salmonid Society is back on the water.
More than 40 volunteers showed up at the Seymour River bank in Heritage Park Aug. 28 to seine-net returning fish in hopes of keeping the run’s lifecycle intact.
Since the 2014 rock slide blocked passage for coho and pink salmon as well as steelhead trout, returning fish have been reliant on people physically carrying them to the Seymour River Hatchery to spawn.
Volunteers used a net loaded with weights at the bottom and kept buoyant with floats at the top to trap fish before transferring them to a tank on the back of a waiting truck, which moved them to the hatchery.
“We got close to 80 coho and they were a very good size. And we got close to 100 pink salmon,” said Shaun Hollingsworth, society president. “These are early run fish and those are great numbers.”
Some will be used for brood stock at the hatchery, others will be moved just above the rock slide and others will go farther up the river to spawn naturally.
Four of the fish, however – two male and two female - have been called to a higher task. They were tagged with radio telemetry beacons that volunteers will be able to track in the water. The society is hoping to prove salmonids are now able to cross the rock slide site under their own steam.
With rain in the weekend weather forecast, Hollingsworth said he’s hoping fish will take the hint.
“Who knows where these fish might go.” he said. “That might be the push where Mother Nature says ‘Get up there and get close to where you’re going to reproduce,’” he said.
The group is planning to go back out again on Sept. 6, 11, 17 and 24, assuming the water levels remain safe for volunteers.
Anyone wanting to volunteer boots on the ground - or waders in the water - should contact the group’s co-ordinator Reece Fowler at the Seymour River Hatchery at (604) 288-0511.
