The latest bundle of baby salmon is nestled neatly in an Oak Bay waterway.
A group of stream-keepers from Peninsula Streams and Shorelines, Friends of Bowker Creek and representatives from Goldstream Hatchery, planted 18,350 chum eggs into two incubation boxes in Bowker Creek on Jan. 8, Jane Evans wrote in an update to members.
The Friends of Bowker Creek Society supports restoration and enhancement of the waterway that spans Victoria, Saanich and Oak Bay, guided by the vision and goals of the Bowker Creek Blueprint.
Planning for egg incubation started as early as 2019, as an initiative by Oak Bay High students and staff alongside volunteers and a consulting biologist.
An assessment conducted by Oak Bay High signalled Bowker Creek had potential for supporting chum salmon. Peninsula Streams and the Friends of Bowker Creek Society expanded the study, guided by The Streamkeepers Handbook, published by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
In 2022 and 2023 the groups planted eggs in the waterway, but a poor Goldstream River salmon return in 2023 meant many groups and organizations the hatchery supports, including Friends of Bowker, did not receive eggs for incubation in 2024.
Stream-keepers continue to collect data in support of salmon recovery, monitor urban drainage into the creek, remove invasive plants, add native vegetation to improve the creek’s natural habitat, and this year manufactured two metal incubation boxes for rearing the salmon eggs, Evans said.
Volunteers are monitoring the creek and the incubation process every day until the release of the chum fry potentially near the end of February.
The length of incubation is measured by accumulated thermal units, calculated by measuring water temperature. That temperature determines the amount of thermal energy available to the eggs.
At the time that the eggs were deposited in Bowker Creek on Jan. 8 the water temperature averaged between 8 and 9C for the first 10 days, Evans said. This temperature helped the eggs to develop quickly to the ‘alevin’ stage of the incubation process. Cooler temperature will slow the process down slightly.
The first fish returning from the first batch of eggs incubated in 2022 are expected to appear this fall.
