ADOPT A FISH AT COHO FESTIVAL
The Coho Society is getting a head start on its annual Adopt-A-Fish program this year.
“Typically, we wait until April when we are ready to have the smotes (baby salmon) released into local creeks,” said Tom Boppart, co-chair of the Society and Chair of Adopt-A-Fish program.
This year, the society will introduce its Adopt-A-Fish program into the annual Coho Festival at Ambleside Park September 11th. The festival opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 5 p.m. Admission is free.
There will be a special booth where parents can take their children to sign up early to adopt a fish. Adoption certificates will be there to be filled out. The fee is $5.00 and goes toward Coho’s education and salmonid enhancement programs.
In April of 2012, the children can bring their certificates to the West Vancouver Memorial Library where they will be able to take a baby salmon in a bucket over to McDonald Creek and release it into the creek.
Annually the Streamkeepers contribute 200,000 to 300,000 salmon fry — chum and coho — into 15 North Shore streams. The salmon roe are raised at the Streamkeepers’ fish hatchery, which sits on district land beside Nelson Creek and the Capilano Salmon Hatchery.
In 2006, 343 salmon were observed in eight streams the society helped bring back to life and continuously monitor. Last run that number jumped to 893. And in 2012, there is hope for more.
Upon release, the Coho stay in the creek until May before going to the ocean.
Smotes spend a portion of their out-migration time in brackish water, where their body chemistry becomes accustomed to osmo-regulation in the ocean — meaning the fishes body fluids balance between becoming too dilated or too concentrated.
The Adopt A Fish Program helps promote awareness and education regarding North
