Mossom Creek Hatchery is a

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled condit ...

Port Moody Port Moody is a city in British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It envelops the east end of Burrard Inlet and is the smallest of the Tri-Cities, bordered by Coquitlam on the east and south a ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. It is a salmon enhancement project supported by

Fisheries and Oceans Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; french: Pêches et Océans Canada, MPO), is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and sc ...

. It was started in 1976 by high school volunteers from local Centennial School in

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipa ...

and teachers Ruth Foster and Rod MacVicar. They formed the Centennial School Salmon project, which is still an active club at the school. It has received much recognition for its unique and longstanding work. Ruth Foster has won a Canadian Environment Award for her work at Mossom Creek Hatchery. When the hatchery began, there were no salmon left in Mossom Creek. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers over the decades there is now a strong run of

chum Chum may refer to: Broadcasting * CHUM Limited, a defunct Canadian media company * CHUM Radio, now Bell Media Radio, a Canadian radio broadcasting company * CHUM (AM), a Toronto radio station * CHUM-FM, a Toronto radio station * CHUM Chart, a C ...

salmon and an increasing run of

coho The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name is ...

salmon. The hatchery also supplies fish to other streams that drain into

Burrard Inlet french: Baie Burrard , image = Burrard Inlet 201807.jpg , image_size = 250px , alt = , caption = Aerial view of Burrard Inlet , image_bathymetry = Burrard-Inlet-map-en.svg , alt_bathymetry ...

. By reintroducing these salmon, the hatchery strengthens the surrounding ecosystem at various

trophic level The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it i ...

s. Every year the hatchery releases approximately 100,000 chum fry into the area and approximately 7,000 coho smolts. The hatchery is operated by Burrard Inlet Marine Enhancement Society, a non-profit group, and relies on volunteers year round. They also work closely with other organizations such as the Pacific WildLife Foundation and the Port Moody Ecological Society. Eggs and milt are collected from chum and coho salmon in the fall and early winter from Mossom Creek, Noons Creek (in cooperation with the Port Moody Ecological Society), and sometimes other river systems such as the Indian River. The eggs are fertilized and placed in stacked incubators until they hatch. During the winter, eggs hatch into alevins which absorb their yolk sacks to become fry. Chum are released into the streams as large fry in the spring. Coho smolts that are a year old are also released, as the coho fry must spend an extra year in the hatchery's large rearing tubs. Mossom Creek has been an absolutely pristine creek, and it is home to several other species of wildlife such as the

coastal tailed frog The tailed frogs are two species of frogs in the genus ''Ascaphus'', the only taxon in the family Ascaphidae . The "tail" in the name is actually an extension of the male cloaca. The tail is one of two distinctive anatomical features adapting the ...

and the

American dipper The American dipper (''Cinclus mexicanus''), also known as a water ouzel, is a stocky dark grey bird with a head sometimes tinged with brown, and white feathers on the eyelids that cause the eyes to flash white as the bird blinks. It is long, h ...

Black-tailed deer Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

and

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

also make their home within the watershed forest. Recently, upstream development on steep slopes in the Village of

Anmore Anmore is a village in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is north of the city of Port Moody and along the shores of the Indian Arm. Anmore is one of three politically independent village municipalities (municipalities with populati ...

, has impacted the stream with heavy

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

ation. Much volunteer time has been directed at documenting and dealing with this issue. Another recent effect of upstream development can be seen in recent water quality tests. These tests indicate that the levels of

phosphates In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phosph ...

and

nitrates Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are soluble in water. An example of an insoluble ...

have recently reached a detectable level. Mossom Creek Hatchery has achieved the "Accessibility Certified Gold" rating under the Rick Hansen foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) Achieving a score of 84 out of 100 points.

References

* * * * * *{{cite web , title= Port Moody Ecological Society , url=http://www.noonscreek.org , accessdate=2008-03-04 Fisheries and Oceans Canada Organizations established in 1976 Port Moody