Community members will gather on Saturday (June 1) to release over 1,000 chinook salmon fry into the Nechako River.
Dustin Snyder, the President of the Spruce City Wildlife Association, said around 300 people came out to help release the salmon last year.
“We have more hotdogs and we have more fish, so we are hoping for a bigger turnout this year,” he told My PG Now.
Releasing the salmon will not be the only attraction, Snyder said there will be face painting and other kids’ activities, other outdoor community groups setting up booths, a chance to learn about the impact salmon have on the ecosystem and environment, and free hot dogs.
The 1,000 – 1,200 fish released by the public on Saturday sounds like a lot, but it is only a drop in the river compared to how many Spruce City releases on their own.
“We release the majority of our fish and we raise 60,000, but we always save a few to do a community event so we can get people down to the hatchery,” Snyder explained, adding chinook salmon are one of the most important stocks to the regional economy and ecosystem.
“They are traveling all the way from Vancouver to the headwaters of the Fraser and Nechako, they encounter way more hurdles than any other stock,” he said. “A lot of the fishing closures up and down the coast are because of the low and endangered stocks up here.”
“For the ecosystem itself, all the nutrients from the ocean those fish bring up here… once they lay their eggs those fish die. Whether it is the bears, eagles, or bugs eating those fish, these carcasses and fish add a huge nutritional component to the ecosystem for the animals and soil. There is a huge benefit to having larger fish populations.”
The fry release will run from noon until 3:00 on Saturday at the Spruce City Wildlife Association’s headquarters at 1384 River Road.
You can see more about the event here.
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