Thousands of Babylachs, which were released into the Oak Bay Waterway early after the fish was killed

A turbulent journey is waiting for thousands of young salmon, which were hatched in Bowker Creek after a fish killing triggered their early release in Oak Bay.

A group of streams of peninsula flows and coasts, friends of Bowker Creek and representatives made of gold-streamed breeding, planted 18,350 chum eggs in two incubation boxes in Bowker Creek on January 8. Since then, volunteers have a visit to the boxes, the temperature and the observation of water quality.

“It was this combination of happy and sad for us,” said friends of Bowker, member of Bowker, Gerald Harris, the OAK Bay News.

“Through all the time before about a week ago, we saw what these very healthy eggs and very healthy little Alevin looked like because we are able to look into and see what was going on there. … fingers and toes pressed it so well. “

Shortly after the cold drying season in February, the region saw strong rainfall and stirred the cloudiness in the water. Turned with sediment and high water, the incubation boxes were clouded. Two days later – days before the planned publication on March 1 – the volunteers suddenly looked like a sea of ​​silver – bellless Babylachs.

“It didn't look so good, we thought we would see a mortality there,” said Harris. A specialist who voluntarily reports to the organization made the situation on February 27th and found that they had a heavy fish killer, the rest of the brood immediately free.

“When we pulled out the tablets for the first time, these dead fish are there and what is wrong that the dead fish have turned the silver side up, while the living are still dark side,” said Harris.

This first insight into a swarm of silver was discouraging, but what was below.

“You are only confronted with all these dead fish. Only when we emptied these things did we find that we are quite confident that we survive at least 50 percent. “

A trained assumption is that 9,000 to 10,000 living Alevin were launched on the waterway that day. An Alevin – a newly hatched fish with still bound egg yolk sack – will fry as soon as the sack is consumed. The small fish could hang out in the waterway for up to a month before continuing, which makes water quality even more critical.

The Friends of Bowker Creek Society supports the restoration and improvement of the waterway, which is directed by the vision and the destinations of the regionally developed Bowker Creek initiative-one partnership that includes communities.

With the unknown cause of death, the OAK Bay Public Works group asked to deal with the cloudy water incidents in the past few weeks. They learned that the district had already been alerted by another resident and looked into the source.

“He visited the stream in connection with volunteers and saw the situation in the incubation box. He made himself right to work to determine the source of pollution, ”said Harris. “We really have the feeling that we are part of a team.”

The OAK Bay employees examined four locations throughout the community, confirmed the district. They found that the source came from outside the community, but had not found the exact source.

Salmon roasts are sensitive to high clouding, which can be caused by fine sediments, which are inserted from the design activity or bankerosion. The friends of Bowker Hope, people in Oak Bay, Saanich and Victoria – where the waterway runs – will be particularly aware of what they send to the water sheath.

In this first year, the incubating boxes marked a return of eggs to the stream. In 2022 and 2023, the groups planted eggs in a rock built into the waterway, but a poor gold stream River salmon in 2023, including Friends of Bowker, meant no eggs for incubation in 2024.

Although Harris had lost some of this year's fish, he found that they had the design properly for the location.

“We built boxes that can work in Bowker Creek,” said Harris. “We believe that we have a good course. We can illustrate DFO (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) for this year that we use a good system, and Bowker Creek is still a good project. “