Chum Salmon Recovery

Chum salmon were plentiful in Bowker Creek until around 1914. Local historian, Ainslie Helmcken, remembered seeing them migrating upstream behind Jubilee Hospital. He played along the creek as a boy while his father, Dr. Helmcken, visited patients. Indigenous people have fished salmon and trout in the creek for likely the past 6000 years. The goal of the Bowker Creek Chum Salmon Recovery Project is to restore Chum in the creek.

In Metro Vancouver, Still Creek welcomed Chum in 2012, after 80 years absence. Cooperative work among volunteer streamkeepers, educational institutions and city governments daylighted and restored that urban creek, improved its water quality and invited Chum Salmon back. Similar projects are ongoing on the Saanich Peninsula, and we propose the same for Bowker Creek.

A preliminary study by students of Oak Bay High School suggests that Bowker Creek might already possess fair habitat and water quality for Chum salmon.

A citizen science initiative, the Chum Salmon Recovery Project is based in collaboration among Friends of Bowker Creek Society, Oak Bay High School and Peninsula Streams Society. It will cultivate strong relationships with the District of Oak Bay, the Bowker Creek Initiative of the Capital Regional District, School District 61 and the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations. Community connections, such as with UVic’s Living Lab, neighbourhood associations and environmental groups will be vital.

Purpose and process of the project:

To restore Chum salmon in Bowker Creek by the following process:

combine action and study in a a multi-year dynamic process that includes these elements:
- release Chum fry in the creek at Oak Bay High School over a period of years,
  - assessing downstream migration survival of the fry
- assess the present potential of creek habitat, water quality and flow in the lower (Oak Bay) reaches of the stream, with reference to the needs of Chum salmon migration upstream, spawning, egg incubation, fry emergence and migration downstream, using:
  - background data from earlier assessment work in the creek
  - new assessments of habitat and water quality, performed by community volunteers, emphasizing the period, mid-October to mid-May when Chum would be present in the stream
- report on the stream’s present potential for supporting a Chum salmon population, addressing topics of carrying capacity and limiting factors of habitat, water quality and flow
- suggest a range of possible restoration and mitigation measures, prioritizing for simplicity and immediate effectiveness
- observe and respond to adult Chum returns, as follows:
  - observe migration and spawning
  - possibly directly assist, as necessary and practical
  - note limiting factors,
  - suggest, advocate for and initiate corrective action in habitat, water quality and flow
- Repeat over a period of years the cycle of:
  - observing the Chum and assisting as needed in upstream and downstream migration, egg fertilization and incubation,
  - initiating corrective action
- to establish a self-sustaining Chum salmon population.

Why Chum salmon?

Evidence suggests that Bowker Creek also supported populations of Coho salmon and Coastal Cutthroat trout. Juveniles of those species remain at least a year in freshwater before migrating to the ocean. They have more complex and difficult requirements than do Chum. The Chum inhabit freshwater for essentially the winter half of the year, without a period of juvenile rearing, so they are less likely to encounter low-oxygen conditions and do not need rearing habitat for juveniles. Their requirements may be easier for us to meet.

Why the lower reaches of Bowker Creek?

Compared to Coho and Cutthroat, Chum tend to occupy portions of a stream nearer the ocean, with easier access. Measures needed to restore or assist migration will be simpler and cheaper, the shorter the stream length fish must travel. The relatively natural section of stream at Monteith and the restored section at Oak Bay High School present the best possibility at present for successful spawning.

Timeline

June 2020:

Open contact with stakeholders and advisors
Gather information on Chum salmon: – requirements at all stages of freshwater and estuary life – assessment of habitat and water – re-introduction into streams – habitat and water restoration – artificial transport, spawning, refuge and rearing options – existing assessment information on Bowker Creek – relevant aspects of the Bowker Creek Blueprint – Bowker Creek salmonid history – similar projects in greater Victoria, southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands
Initiate contacts and planning for Chum fry release next spring
Design scientific and technical elements of the habitat and water quality studies.

July – August 2020:

Begin initial stage of water quality and flow assessment
Build relationships with stakeholders and advisors
Plan and schedule the assessment field work: apportion areas of responsibility and leadership, find materials and volunteers, train and organize field work leaders
Plan public education/media aspect

September:

Train and organize assessment volunteers
Begin public education

October 2020 – April 2021:

Water quality & habitat assessment field work
Prepare for fry release and downstream migration monitoring
Release fry in April
Public education

May – June 2021

Conclude water quality and habitat assessment
Recognize volunteers

July – August 2021

Analyze data and develop results
Summarize results, develop suggestions,
Outline report and write initial sections

September – November 2021

complete report
Present report for stakeholders and public
Start advocacy for most essential habitat or water quality improvements

2022 -2024

Ongoing assessment as needed
Fry release and downstream monitoring

2025

Ongoing assessment as needed
Prepare for possible adult Chum returns
Monitor for adults in estuary, migration and spawning
- Assist as needed and possible
- Analyze and report on the above
- Identify most-needed habitat or WQ measures needed before next year’s upstream migration

2026 – 2028

Same as 2025, plus
Essential habitat & WQ improvements as possible
Monitor any downstream fry migration
analyze, report, identify measures needed, and make improvements as possible