Paddle with the Salmon
Fish biologists will be on hand to sample Fraser fish with a seine net, before releasing them unharmed back to the river. Fish education is a key part of Hope Mountain Centre’s paddle trip on Sunday, September 27th
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: September 22, 2009 3:44 PM
By Kelly Pearce
Contributor
The community of Hope enjoys a special relationship with the Fraser River, yet many of us don’t realize that the Fraser’s most productive salmon habitat is right in our backyard. We’ve all heard of famous salmon runs like the Adams River Sockeye migrating past our town, but this year a much bigger run spawns right in our neighbourhood. Right now, 17.5 million Pink Salmon are spawning between Hope and Mission ---the largest single run on the entire Fraser and the largest salmon run found anywhere in the world.
Mark Angelo, founder of BC Rivers Day, calls this part of the river the “Heart of the Fraser” in honour of the ecological wealth found there. The Hope-to-Mission stretch produces not only millions of Pinks annually, and hundreds of thousands of Chum Salmon, but at least 30 species of spawning fish, including the largest population of White Sturgeon in Canada. Ample bird and mammal species are also supported by the river and its forests.
A growing conservation initiative, headed by the Nature Trust and the Rivers Institute at BCIT, seeks to better protect the river from encroaching development. These organizations contend that as the population of the Lower Mainland continues to grow, it is increasingly urgent that governments, First Nations, and the private sector work collaboratively to protect the Fraser from unchecked development.
This Sunday, in celebration of BC Rivers Day, the Hope Mountain Centre will host a special event to honour the “Heart of the Fraser”. This paddle trip for canoes, kayaks, and rafts will take participants downriver from Hope to Agassiz. But it is more than a paddle trip. We’re exploring the river with Marvin Rosenau, a professional fish biologist and expert on the Heart of the Fraser. Marvin will show us why this stretch of the river supports so many fish. In addition, Mike Church will also be along for the ride. Mike is a River Morphologist and UBC instructor, widely considered to be the leading ‘Gravel Guru’ for the Fraser. It’s the gravel that makes the Hope-to-Mission stretch so important to fish. This piece of the Fraser has just the right gradient and flow to distribute gravel over a broad floodplain, creating the complex of islands, side channels, and gravel bars where fish love to spawn.
The paddle trip includes lunch and bus transportation between Hope and Agassiz. To register, contact Hope Mountain Centre at 604-869-1274 or at www.hopemountain.org
Kelly Pearce is a director with the Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning.
v2
