Local salmon numbers are strong this autumn

Diane Strandberg
November 26, 2009
The Tri-City News

High water in creeks and streams caused by recent heavy rains has been good for spawning salmon but not so good for volunteers keeping count of the local fish population.

It will likely be a few more weeks before stream stewards and fish biologists have an accurate fish count because the swift-flowing water has been too dangerous for people to do much work in and around the creeks (there have also been warnings for walkers to stay away from creek and river banks).

Numbers will be available once the salmon have died and their carcasses can be counted.

But the late-fall returns of chinook, chum and coho salmon to the Coquitlam River and Hyde Creek have been good, especially when compared to the Fraser sockeye run, which hit a 50-year-low this summer that prompted a federal judicial inquiry.

Read the full story in The Tri-City News