Project - Pink Sustainability Project
The Pink Sustainability Project is our enhancement project in the watershed. One of the most significant impacts of the pollution from the minesite was to reduce stocks but as a consequence the nutrients the Tsolum requires to "feed" the aquatic ecosystem has been so depleted that from the early 70's through the late 90's insect populations plummeted. Insects form the nutritional base for fish stocks and without them young fish are so undernourished that by the time they make it to the estuary (which of course is also depleted and damaged) they have no strength to avoid predators or beef themselves up for their trek to the ocean. Without sufficient nutrition they starve.
Pink Salmon, it is well known, contain, per gram of body weight, more nutrients than any other species of salmon. These nutrients are gathered into their bodies as they move and feed during their ocean life stage and represent a critical return to the landscape of these valuable and necessary ocean nutrients.
To provide these necessary nutrients the TRRS re-opened, with the assistance of The Puntledge and Quinsam Hatcheries, a small abandoned DFO facility in Merville and have released up to 2 million pink fry into the Tsolum River each year since 1999.
Eggs are taken each September from Quinsam Hatchery and once these eggs are eyed they are transferred to our little hatchery where volunteers "egg, alevin and fry sit" all winter taking readings, cleaning screens, fixing things, shovelling snow and making sure all is well while these baby fish grow into fry that can be released.
Many of these fry are lost to river predators such as ducks, snakes, trout, mink, otters and seals and many more are lost to ocean survival issues. Many more are lost to commercial fisheries and bycatch. Against all odds some do return to bring those essential nutrients back to the Tsolum River as they spawn and die and their carcasses decompose and "feed" the aquatic ecosystem including bears, eagles, seagulls, and other carnivores. This decomposing material also feeds the microrganisms and insects so important to a healthy watershed.
See "Stocks" in FAQ section. Despite our efforts pink numbers are not stabilizing and we have seen declines in returns over the past six years instead of the hoped for increase. Studies are being desgned to discover why with the help of the Habitat Branch of DFO. This decline has much to do with continuing copper contaminants from the old mine as pinks tend to "avoid" the Tsolum when copper leachate is present.
We also think that as pinks begin to return to the Comox Harbour they are assaulted by harbour and river habituated seals, have literally no complex habitat within which to hide and rest and, because they are more a "herding" animal than a loyal natal stream species (such as Chinook and Coho) when they begin to swim into our depleted and polluted estuary they regroup and swim back to systems like the Oyster River in large schools.
The Pink Sustainability Project includes therefore, all the other iniatives currently underway with augmentation of low flows, minesite reclamation and Courtenay River restoration and complexing at the top of the list.
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