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How the Salmon Run: Streamkeepers weigh in on latest salmon returns

A bright orange Coho Salmon with tail up, swimming in a gold-green, wavy Morrison Creek enroute to its spawning grounds.
A Coho Salom darting upstream in Morrison Creek making the return to its spawning grounds. Photo by Kim Paulley.
Kim Paulley - CKTZ - Cortes Island • BC | 20-11-2023
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The latest salmon returns are in for 2023 and two streamkeepers from the region have made observations about the different populations. A great year for Pink Salmon was the good news. Poor returns for Chum were noted by both streamkeepers.

Janet Gemmell, a streamkeeper, president of Courtenays Morrison Creek Streamkeepers, and a former resident of Carrington Bay on Cortes island, spoke with CKTZ about the Comox Valley.

Gemmell highlighted why Morrison Creek is a very important salmon habitat and also spoke about her recent visit to Carrington Bay this past summer where she spotted Coho fry.

CKTZ also caught up with Christine Robinson, Streamkeeper for Friends of Cortes Island. Robinson provided data for this year's Cortes Chum Run and reflected on Gemmell's Coho-spotting in Carrington Bay.

For more information on the state of salmon, go to the Pacific Salmon Foundation's website for further information.

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a blonde haired , smiling woman with glasses and a turquoise vest leaning on the rail of a bridge that looks to a long golden-green, treed Morrison Creek.
Janet Gemmell standing on a bridge that crosses Morrison Creek. Photo by Kim Paulley.
a murky gray creek bottom with two Coho fry just visible swimming along the bottom.
Two Coho fry swim along on either side of the murky bottomed James creek in Grandmother Grove, Carrington Bay, Cortes Island. Photo by Kim Paulley.