A community advisor for Fisheries and Oceans Canada is supporting efforts to rebuild Port Moody's Mossom Creek Hatchery, which was felled by fire in December.
Sandie Hollick-Kenyon says she has long appreciated the efforts of Rod MacVicar and Ruth Foster, co-founders of the hatchery, as well as Centennial secondary teachers and students and the team at the Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society, for their years of work rebuilding fish stocks and educating the community about the importance of salmon to the ecosystem.
"They were one of the first groups to come forward saying, 'We want to be involved, and not only do we want to consult but we want hands-on experience,'" said Hollick-Kenyon, who said the hatchery predates her department's own Salmon Enhancement Program.
The work stocking the creeks with salmon is crucial because, without it, the region would lose an iconic species that is valuable both to the economy and are ecosystems.
In addition to stocking Mossom Creek each year with coho, chum and, in the future, pinks, the group also stocks Schoolhouse and Suterbrook creeks on PoMo's south shore.
Without the group's efforts, these creeks would be empty of fish and the environment and society poorer for it, Hollick-Kenyon said.
"Healthy ecosystems include the plants and animals that used to exist and should be here today," she said. Equally important is that Mossom hatchery, now in the earliest stages of re-construction, has become a rallying point for the community.
To contribute to the rebuilding effort for the Mossom creek Hatchery, go to mossomcreek.org and click on the Donate Now button.
