Two years after a devastating fire, Mossom Creek hatchery is fully operational, with three species of salmon — pink, coho and chum — in incubation and plans to provide more education programming for children and adults.
And this week, operators of the Port Moody facility got some more good news: Mossom is the recipient of a $10,000 grant it will use to hire an education co-ordinator.
The grant, one of five BC Hydro is giving out to B.C. organizations as part of its Community Champions Award, was chosen with an online contest in which Heritage Woods secondary school students Ethan Volberg, Pierce Kinch and Graeme Lyon produced a video and people had to vote.
"We can't thank them enough and all of our supporters," said Ruth Foster, hatchery co-founder, who said people from all over the world voted on the Mossom project to win the grant.
Now, with the money in hand, Mossom is planning its educational programming for the year and will reach out to School District 43 teachers in January to find out what they would like to see.
"We want to work with them and ask them 'What do you need?'" said Cléone Todgham, a volunteer who has been performing the educational co-ordinator role.
Pat Dennett, vice-president of the Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society, said the funds are important so Mossom can enhance its role in the community. But he said funds are still needed to also run the education centre and hatchery, and BIMES will be looking for more community support in the future.
"I want to see generation after generation coming here," Dennett said, noting that everyone who visits during Sunday open houses or by invitation "is totally blown away by what we have here," and he hopes that will turn into more support and volunteers for the hatchery.
There is much work to be done, he noted, pointing to the volunteers who recently collected coho eggs from local brood stock and were spending the day counting chum eggs and pulling out dead ones to prevent fungus from spreading.
Meanwhile, Eagle Mountain middle school in Anmore is also benefitting from a $1,000 grant from BC Hydro's Community Champions Award and will be using the money to build a garden.
• For more information about Mossom and to donate, visit mossomcreek.org (tax receipts are available) and to find out more about the open house for teachers, email [email protected].
