The estuary habitat for Bowker Creek is at the south end of Willows Beach in Oak Bay. FoBCS Volunteer, Gerald Harris, joined Tony Otten in a Forage Fish Egg Survey session in February. Tony and his crew have been sampling all along Willows Beach, as part of a Peninsula Streams and Shorelines project, to see if it is spawning habitat for a few species of small fish that have a big role in the Salish Sea ecosystem – and finding eggs all along the beach. Gerald writes, ” It is amazing to me that Willows sand supports successful fish spawning in the upper intertidal zone, so heavily used by swimmers and dog walkers. These eggs are pretty much invisible without a microscope…” This estuary is an integral part of the foraging habitat for the juvenile salmon fry released in the creek by the FoBCS Chum Salmon Recovery Program and school students who are raising salmonids in the classroom and releasing them into the creek.
