<\/p>\n
![\"Chum](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2624.jpg\")
<\/a>Chum salmon eggs \u2013 courtesy Cortes Island Streamkeepers<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Why was the Basil Creek run different?<\/h2>\n
The initial discussion, in the podcast above, centres around the reasons why the Basil Creek run was so much better than the others.<\/p>\n
Was it because of the extensive work that\u00a0Sean Wong and his crew did at the mouth of the creek in 2017<\/a>?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so. The work that he did was carried out at Basil Creek and then essentially\u00a0duplicated for Whaletown<\/a>. So there you have the two extremes. Basil had a good return and Whaletown, the other place where work was done, had nothing,\u201d said Robinson.<\/p>\n The deep pools and other salmon enhancements that went into Basil Creek were not repeated in Whaletown.<\/p>\n \u201cI agree, the difference being that Whaletown Creek didn\u2019t need it. Basil Creek, particularly below the road where that work happened, had been straightened out (channelized) over the years. It didn\u2019t have a lot of curves, bends and hiding spots left in it. Whaletown Creek is pretty good that way. It has not been affected by human activity in the same way,\u201d Robinson responded.<\/p>\n Photo credit:\u00a0The new marine heatwave off the West Coast stands out in this map of sea surface temperature anomalies, with darker red denoting temperatures farther above average. The highest temperatures shown are more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Image from NOAA Coral Reef Watch, which corrects effectively for cloud cover.<\/p><\/div>\n When he approached the Department of Fisheries about the discrepancy, they said the same phenomenon occurred all up and down the coast.<\/p>\n \u201cSome runs are very strong. Others were just \u2026 missing. It is a big question, as to exactly why,\u201d said Robinson.<\/p>\n The\u00a0DFO<\/a>\u2019s best thinking is that this phenomenon arises from another marine heat wave like the \u201cBlob\u201d which \u201cpeaked through 2014 and 2015 with temperatures close to seven degrees Fahrenheit above average.\u2019\u00a0According to an article from NOAA Fisheries<\/a>, which Robinson emailed Cortes Currents after our interview, the \u201cwarmer conditions during \u201cthe Blob\u201d left lesser-quality food available to young salmon entering the ocean. It also shifted predator distributions in ways that contributed to low returns of salmon.\u201d<\/p>\n Robinson explained, \u201cApparently it has very defined boundaries. So that moving just a short distance, you travel from normal temperatures to excessively warm waters. So it could be that the fate of the different runs depended on whether they got tangled up in that warm water.\u201d<\/p>\n Courtesy Cortes Island Streamkeepers<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n The Cortes streamkeepers are taking steps to ensure there will be future Chum runs.<\/p>\n The\u00a0salmon enhancement work in James Creek<\/a>\u00a0has been mentioned elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put a great deal of effort into putting some spawning gravel there and that project still has to be completed,\u201d said Robinson.<\/p>\n Two incubation boxes, with 40,000 Chum eggs obtained from the\u00a0Tla\u2019amin Nation<\/a>\u00a0hatchery (via\u00a0the Klahoose<\/a>), were installed in Whaletown Creek.<\/p>\n \u201cThe huge advantage there is that the eggs develop in the stream and hopefully the fish will be completely imprinted in that stream. There is a pretty good certainty that, if they survive, they\u2019ll be coming home again,\u201d said Robinson.<\/p>\n He is not certain that fish raised in a hatchery and spending maybe two weeks before they head out to the ocean, have as strong a bond to their streams.<\/p>\n These 40,000 eggs were originally intended for Basil Creek but, after learning the size of the respective runs, the DFO\u00a0 agreed to let them be placed in Whaletown Creek instead.<\/p>\n \u201cI was amazed that the DFO was capable of changing direction so quickly. \u2026 We made a request to put all the eggs in Whaletown Creek \u2026 and I didn\u2019t think we would get permission on such short notice, but we did. I think credit certainly goes to\u00a0Dave Ewart<\/a>, who is working with streamkeepers here.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/md_o4f2PGHxSPj9.png\")
<\/a>A Marine Heat wave<\/h2>\n
![\"salmon](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2621.jpg\")
<\/a>Ensuring there will be future Chum runs<\/h2>\n
![\"ensuring](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2622.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"ensuring](\"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2625.jpg\")
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