More than 8,000 coho smolts are on their way to the ocean thanks to volunteer efforts at the Oldfield Creek Fish Hatchery.
Their ride there? Hundreds of kids transferring them from tank to pail to stream.
This past Saturday, the Ninth Annual Smolt Festival gave Rupertites the opportunity to be a part of thousands of coho salmons’ life-cycles.
The year-old smolts were nurtured and raised by the Prince Rupert Salmonid Enhancement Society at the hatchery from birth and every year the volunteers give the community an opportunity to release them into the streams through Hays Creek in May.
“We started at about 10,000 for the year, but through some mortalities and then through some predators, because we had a mink unfortunately hit us up throughout the year, I think we’re up to about 7,000 or 8,000 fish today,” said Mike McDowall, a volunteer with the society.
The fish release was the main part of a fun-filled afternoon at the creek, with games, crafts, food and educational displays available for Rupertites to take in.
This year, the society benefited from a $75,000 donation from Pacific NorthWest LNG that will go toward an operations vehicle and engineering plans for rebuilding the outside rearing area, as pesky predators often come to try and dine on the poor coho.
The hatchery has a 97 per cent success rate of salmon surviving the entire life cycle — in nature the success rate is three per cent.
