1) Streamkeepers Meeting: The next gathering of the members will be the annual Streamkeepers Seaside Social on Thursday, April 19 at Hollyburn Sailing Club starting at 7:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing everyone at this festive event.
2) Annual General Meeting: The AGM of the West Vancouver Streamkeeper Society will be held on Thursday, May 3 at St. Stephen’s Church starting at 7:30 p.m. The guest speaker will be Bob Devlin, a research scientist at the West Vancouver laboratory, whose topic will be “the Future of Genomics in Fisheries Science”. This promises to be an intriguing presentation.
3) New Director and Committee Changes: With the resignation of Dave Reid from the board of directors in late January, the board appointed Liz Leduc to take this position. We thank Dave for his contribution since 2012 looking after Work Plan and later, the coordination of the Creek Monitors. Don Harrison who, in recent years has organized our Community Events, will now be coordinating the projects identified in the 2018 Work Plan. Liz, in addition to the Membership Coordinator duties, will take over organizing the Community Events.
4) New Appointments: Laura Bekar will be taking over the coordination of the Creek Monitors who conduct emerging fry surveys and the spawner salmon surveys. Gabrielle Mustapich has become the Society’s photographer supporting the Streamkeepers’ website and Facebook. Also, Marlene Loader will be assisting Sherry Parrott with the storm drain painting program.
5) Nelson Creek Hatchery: The 102,000 chum salmon eggs hatched to alevins in late December and were ponded as fry on March 21. We receive 30,000 coho eggs from the Capilano Hatchery on February 7 which have not yet hatched. All the fry will be fed for a few weeks before being released into local streams. If you would like to participate at a fry release, please contact Elizabeth Hardy at nelsoncreekhatchery@gmail.com. Please note, this is not a children’s event. It is a physical activity which requires carrying a garbage can container, half filled with water and approximately 4,000 salmon fry, from the transport truck to the stream release location.
6) Work Plan for 2018: The Work Plan reports (Results for 2017 and the Work Plan for 2018) are now posted on the website at www.westvancouverstreamkeepers.ca. Of the highest priority will be the repair of the eroded base of the support structure at the fish ladder on Hadden Creek at Stevens Drive and the repair of the baffles in the Brothers Creek culvert under the Highway.
7) Delegation to Council: By the invitation of Mayor Michael Smith, on January 22 two West Vancouver Secondary School students and the Streamkeepers’ President went before West Vancouver Council as a Delegation to present the results of the 2017 spawner salmon surveys. This was well received by Mayor and Council and was a most rewarding time for the students, conveying the success of the salmon surveys and the value of this learning experience.
8) Herring Spawn Enhancement: In addition to the 12 nets in Fisherman’s Cove at Thunderbird Marina and West Vancouver Yacht Club, 12 more nets were installed at Sewell’s West Marina dock in Horseshoe Bay. The nets were installed in early January, well before for the herring spawning peak which occurs in mid-February. Volunteers checked the nets weekly until the nets were removed in late March. Unfortunately, there was no evidence of herring eggs at any of these locations. 9) Citizen Science: Water quality testing of eight creeks was completed during high water conditions in early January. The tests being conducted are for dissolved oxygen, pH levels, temperature and stream turbidity. As in the fall, there were no negative findings from this testing. Later this spring the teams will conduct sampling for macro-invertebrates, the food source for cutthroat trout and juvenile coho salmon. 10) Adopt-A-Fish: This event is offered for elementary school children and will take place on April 28 in Memorial Park. It is hosted by the Coho Society of the North Shore, the West Vancouver Memorial Library and West Vancouver Streamkeepers. It is always a festive event with the youngsters collecting a coho smolt from the DFO portable tank and then carrying the salmon in a small pail through the park to McDonald Creek. Here the smolts are released, where they will commence their journey downstream to the ocean to spend a year and a half at sea before returning to spawn. This event requires a large number of volunteers. If you would like to help out please contact the event co-coordinator, Liz Leduc, at liz.leduc@shaw.ca 11) Streamkeeper Course: This two-day introductory course will be offered on July 7 and 8. Seven modules are covered which can be viewed at the Pacific Streamkeepers website at www.pskf.ca. If you would like to reserve your place, please contact John Barker at jrbarker@shaw.ca. The $50.00 fee is covered by the annual grant we receive from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 12) CreekTalk: We have rejuvenated this program for elementary school children to provide classroom talks about fish, creeks, fish habitat, aquatic insects and streamside plant life. Hugh Hamilton and Marlene Loader will share this responsibility. Creek walks will be offered, provided the school is located near a creek, or beachside walks offered as an alternative. 13) Invasive Plant Removal: Dave Martin led teams of up to 12 members who participated in four events in Memorial Park during March. A large District truck was required to transport the exceptional volume of invasive plants that were removed after each event, being predominantly English ivy. 14) Membership: We are pleased to report that most members have renewed for the current year, but if you haven’t already done so, could you please submit your membership application for 2018. You will find the form on the website under Join Us. Interestingly, we are now recognized as one of the largest all-volunteer salmon stewardship organizations in the province. A big thank-you to all members for your continued support and, in particular, to those of you giving of your time to help.
John Barker, President jrbarker@shaw.ca 604-922-5780
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