As the Hyde Creek Watershed Society gets set to celebrate its 20th annual salmon festival Sunday, the Port Coquitlam organization is concerned fish numbers in the waterway are dwindling due to dry weather and development.
And having what was possibly a portable toilet tipping over upstream on the weekend didn’t help, either.
Despite the spill, society board member Helen Howes said the biggest issue for the creek and salmon enhancement measures is that there is so little water flowing into it, which is unusual for this time of year.
“We’ve never had a dry creek in October or November,” said Howes, who has degrees in aquatic biology and environmental studies, and has worked on environmental issues for more than 25 years. “The issue for us right now is there is so little water in the creek with the small amount of rain that we have had that the chum and coho has been really low.
“We will persevere. I’m hoping that it rains more this week so we have some fish in the creek for people to see," Howes said. "We already have some chum eggs and some coho eggs. We’ll probably be taking some more fish [and putting them in the creek]."
By Tuesday, Hyde Creek's water level was up from the previous week and some salmon were spotted leaping in the creek while others laid dead due to spawning.
Although Howes prays for rain, in her opinion, the weather isn’t the only reason the creek is drying up.
“We suspect that it’s development higher up on mountain, where water is being used for other reasons,” she said.
Although a well helps supply water to the creek, Howes said the best solution is for the society, the cities of Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam, and developers to work toward having water coming down Burke Mountain flow into Hyde Creek instead of being diverted into storm sewers.
Howes said it’s a challenge to keep creeks alive in an urban area because growing cities and climate change affect the ecological system.
“There’s a lot of changes you have to adapt to when you’re operating a hatchery. And we’re 100% volunteer and that’s also challenging trying to find people to help out,” said Howes. “It’s what can we do to adapt and keep the hatchery running.”
It’s also discouraging when the creek turns blue with brown stuff swirling around it, which happened on the weekend. Howes said volunteers searched upstream but couldn’t find the culprit, although the clues point to the leading suspect being a portable toilet tipping over and spilling its contents.
“It’s hard to know. There were no fish in the creek on Saturday and I was told there was none Monday,” said Howes. “Let’s face it, it’s a chemical and chemicals affect fish. Are we going to know what the [full effect of the spill] is? Probably not for a while.”
• The Hyde Creek Salmon Festival will be held Sunday, Nov. 17 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hyde Creek Recreation Centre, 1379 Laurier Ave., where free parking is available, and at the society’s education centre and hatchery at 3636 Coast Meridian Rd.; it will feature demonstrations, dissections and nature walks. More information is available at the society’s Facebook page or hydecreek.org.
