| Coho Festival $ supports sa! mon | ‘run ; - THE days are already shorter, the * leaves are turning, and nights are. ; cooler, but the:arrival of fall also © The group wanted 0. involve: local” businesses’ i the ‘replenish nt.of salmonid stocks. ° A> board of directors represented ‘by the. North :Shore. councils, chambers: of ‘com- ° merce, and> school’ boards, ‘the GVRD,. Squamish Nation, and Fisheries ahd Oceans *: Canada. now oversees the” Coho Festival Society. : The two-week long festival i isa celebration “of salmon making their annual trek back to the North Shore to spawn. The Coho Festival Society, a volunteer-run- organization, is committed to protecting -+ North Shore streams and rivers, as well as : salmonid species, some of which are facing *extincdon ~~ pollution and vandalism. “It’s vital work. . ; In the last year alone, whole stocks of :salmion fry have been lost ‘through contami- - nation. oc >.Baek in the spring, North Shore stream “keepers ‘stacked about 14 streams in West _ Vancouver with 10,000-30,000 colto each. The stream restocking was part of a $10 . million Salmonid Renewal Program backed - by Fisheries Renewal B.C. At least nine of the streams hadn’t had salmon in them for 40 vears. ~ But pollution leaking into storm drains and creeks have seriously jeopardized the pro- ject. - Pound Creek in West Vancouver has been hit by a number of spills of hazardous materi- “als, including paint and cement particles. Automotive and pool-cleaning fluids have also been responsible for creek pollution in recent months. Nearly all of a batch of 10,000-20,000 salmon fry placed in Pound Creek earlier this year were killed by a pollution spill. Saimon fry are fragile creatures, and high levels of pollution or other problems with the m years of urban development, 7 Wednesday, September 6. 2000 - North Shore News - 27 Saenonid Hstetat Rest stron work completed by Blueridge Community Association A Celebration of Nature's Annual ‘Miracle of Salmon Returning to the. North Shore NEWS photo Paul McGrath BRINGING back the salmon: North Shore. Streamkeepers co-ordinator Karen Munro, at McCartney Creek; where she and program co-ordinator Gerry Leering (I-r), Terry Bragg of the Osprey Fiytishing Club and Eric Anderson of the Blueridge Community Association, have been invoived in salmon renewal and rehabi tation projects. rn water supply can easily be fatal. In April, burglars breaking into a Lynn Creek salmon hatchery tampered with che water supply, killing off about 60,000 coho and chum salmon fry in, Morten Creek and setting back a suimonid enhancement project by one full lite cycle of the fish. Education programs can help. To date, almost a quarter af'a million dal- lars has been raised by the Coho Festival Society to help fund enhancement programs, public ‘education and community involve’ ment. Funding is also directed towards fish hatcheries and local environmental groups - working on stream protection and habitat projects. One of the more popular programs orga- | nized by the Coho Festival Society. brings renewal into the school system. Children at local elementary schools have been nurturing salmon fry in - classroom aquariums before releasing them into special- ly-constructed ponds — a project which has met with much enthusiasm from the young- sters. Ina story written for the North Shore News, Kids Page earlier thi pt Westcor clementary.in West Vancouver: sai they felt the program.was an important-one; because of the shortage of fish’ on‘the North Shore. ‘The children had released 30. salmon _fry into a porid leading to Brothers Creek. For locals and visitors alike; this is.also perfect time to view returning salmon jump ing ladders on: their: uphill’: struggle : from. Capilano River™ to the’ Capilano %-Fish’ - Hatchery. For: more information about. th Coho Festival and Society, check out the Web site ar .,