Salmon farmers help with wild salmon enhancement

Odd Grydeland
Published Modified

Odd Grydeland

The Nootka Watershed Society on Vancouver Island will be hosting an open house on October 25thto celebrate the completion of the first phase of its Conuma River Side Channel Project, according to a release by the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association today. Mia Parker, Director for the Nootka Watershed Society and Regulatory Affairs Manager for Grieg Seafood BC, stressed the importance of the project in creating habitat for Pacific salmonids and stated that “During this first phase 860 meters of rearing and reproductive habitat was created.”

The Nootka Watershed Society is a not-for-profit organization whose membership includes representatives of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation, the communities of Gold River and Tahsis, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Streamkeepers, as well as local businesses and community members. Working together, the Society and its strategic partners, with funding from private members and the Ministry of Transportation, were able to create a side channel fed by ground water on the Conuma River. Local volunteers were an invaluable asset in the endeavour’s success. The hatchery is located 32 km South-East of Tahsis on Head Bay Road.

"The Conuma River Side Channel Project is just one of many enhancement projects in which BC Salmon Farmers Association’s member companies participate", states the release. "These projects represent an important contribution to wild salmon habitat and to the communities in which member companies operate".

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