Capilano hatchery readies for salmon run

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      Are they running yet? That’s the most frequently asked question for anglers on the banks of rivers, creeks, and spawning channels throughout the Lower Mainland. From Pemberton to Bowen Island, and from the North Shore to the Fraser Valley, it’s a query that also carries resonance with day-trippers in search of fall colours—not just in changing foliage but also in streams that are beginning to teem with returning runs of salmon in October.

      When planning an outing with these elements in mind, you need venture no farther than Capilano River Regional Park, which spans both sides of the Capilano River and forms a natural boundary between West and North Vancouver. Easily accessible by public transit, the park is home to the Capilano Salmon Hatchery, which sits just below the Cleveland Dam.

      Reid Schrul, the facility’s acting watershed-enhancement manager, told the Georgia Straight that if it weren’t for the hatchery the river would be devoid of fish. “Because of the dam, this is known as a ”˜mitigation hatchery’. We’re a lot smaller than most other hatcheries around the Lower Mainland. Only about one million smolts are released here each year, compared to larger hatcheries, such as on the Chilliwack, where they release five million smolts and three million chum fry, or the Chehalis, with three million smolts and six to 14 million fry.” (Unlike chum salmon fry, which are released as soon as they hatch, the hatchery’s coho, chinook, and steelhead smolts are held in tanks for as long as two years until judged to be “ocean-ready”.)

      Asked for an evaluation of this year’s runs, Schrul, who has been with Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Capilano facility for 11 years, said that this has been an average year so far. “We’ve taken in 14 to 16 thousand fish, some of which are kept to brood. Some are transported above the dam into Capilano Lake, some are kept for classroom demonstrations, and the surplus is given to the Squamish First Nation.”

      At the moment, only coho and some summer steelhead are running in the Capilano. By mid-?October, the first of the returning chinook will appear as part of a two-month run. “Once they hit the weir out front,” observed Schrul, “there’s no choice for them but to come into the hatchery.” Which is exactly where about 1,600 two-footed visitors headed in September to take part in GVRD Parks’ annual Coho Walk to celebrate the returning salmon, according to Jill Derling, a GVRD park-interpretation specialist.

      Although the Capilano Salmon Hatchery may be small fry when compared to others, it does have the advantage of being housed in a prizewinning building. In 1980, a Government of Canada–sponsored festival of architecture gave an award of merit to the Capilano hatchery for its innovative design. Nestled on the wall of a narrow canyon, the concrete structure blends in perfectly with its granite surroundings. The fact that it’s wheelchair-accessible is a plus.

      Visitors will be struck by the extensive interpretive displays detailing the life cycles of all of B.C.’s salmon species, as well as glass walls that permit viewers to watch as salmon launch themselves up fish ladders to reach a cavernous holding tank. What the salmon make of such close scrutiny is a matter of conjecture. Certainly there’s little doubt that the view of the steep-sided canyon from the hatchery’s open-air observation deck can only inspire a profound respect for the efforts made by the fish to return home.

      Once you’ve sized up the hatchery, follow the park’s wheelchair-accessible Coho Loop Trail for an exploration of the canyon. Little more than one kilometre in length, the trail outperforms its size. Three bridges span the river close to the hatchery and lead not only to the Coho Loop but to nearby viewpoints over two other canyons, the sheerness of whose walls will come as a revelation to those who may only have glimpsed open stretches of the river near the Capilano’s confluence with Burrard Inlet. As part of a visit here, search out the Giant Fir Trail for a visit with “Grandpa Capilano”, an example of the old-growth that flourished in the days before logging.

      This month, salmon are beginning to run in other GVRD parks as well, including Crippen Regional Park on Bowen Island. As you head uphill from the ferry dock in Snug Cove, a trail leads off to the right to Killarney Lake. Brilliantly hued maple leaves adorn the forest that arches overhead. The path is wide and welcoming and within minutes passes Terminal Creek, which tumbles down a sharp embankment and into a lagoon. Two fish ladders climb the rocky canyon on opposite sides of the creek. There is a small hatchery nearby from which the returning salmon were originally released. Coho and possibly cutthroat trout can be seen running here in October and November.

      The fish ladders themselves have a pleasingly uniform design, and salmon jostle for position to leap from step to step. When sunlight shafts through the woods, this becomes a photographer’s playground. The narrow lagoon opens into the ocean at the bottom of the canyon. For a glimpse of feathery colour, walk down over the rocks to look out at groups of migrating ducks and geese dabbling and diving in this tranquil backwater. -

      ACCESS: For more information on Capilano River and Crippen regional parks, visit gvrd.bc.ca/parks/. Transit schedules are available at trans?link.bc.ca/, westvancouver.ca/, and bcferries.com/.

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