Volunteers with Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society (MVIHES) are once again amazed at the number of coho smolts they are counting in Shelly Creek, a small tributary that enters the Englishman River just upstream of the Orange Bridge in Parksville.
Last year, by May 31, everyone involved in the smolt counting was thrilled to see that they had recorded nearly 3,000 fish in the 6 weeks of monitoring. This year, in less than 2 weeks, they have recorded 3,119 fish.
“Is this a miracle, or not”, said Faye Smith, MVIHES project coordinator, “that so many juvenile coho, as well as Rainbow and Cutthroat trout and other species, fight the odds in these small urban streams and live out their life cycle?”
These fish face a struggle - the water quality is poor, the coho habitat is very limited and the invasive American bull frog is taking its toll on them. Things will not get any better when they reach the estuary where they expect to fatten up and get used to the salt water. The Canada Goose has destroyed almost all of the estuary grasses that provide feeding channels, cover and shade. One can only hope ocean conditions will be good for them.
Smith continues, “So let’s put an end to the idea that ditches are not important enough to protect as fish habitat. Shelly Creek has been ditched, culverted and pretty much twisted like a pretzel from its headwaters in Errington to its confluence with the Englishman and look how it is producing”. This is a good news story.
Volunteers are installing the smolt counting trap again this year in Shelly Creek, a tributary of the Englishman River. In the first 4 days nearly 600 coho smolts were counted and some of them were measured. It certainly indicates the value of the small stream for fish production - even a heavily impacted stream such as Shelly Creek. Daily monitoring will continue until the end of May, Please contact us if you want to help.
For those that may have missed Gilles Wendlings November 4th, 2011 presentation on The Englishman River and its Aquifers, here is a video of that presentation.
The marine riparian is sometimes called the uplands. It consists of the shrubs and trees that provide important services to the nearshore and the fish, animals and birds that live there. These services include:
Shade
Insects
Wrack line
Like other areas of nature, the native plants provide many services. Invasive plants however can push out these important native plants, and so prevent the nearshore from working as it should.
Shade vital for food chains
The shade provided by shrubs and trees in the marine riparian zone is vital to the survival of Surf Smelt, an important part of several food chains in the nearshore. The Smelt spawn in the upper intertidal and so the eggs are exposed to the hot sun. With shade to keep them cool, the eggs can survive. Without shade from the marine riparian, the eggs can bake in the sun and die.
Insects key to salmon survival
The shrubs and trees that hang over the high tide provide insects to fish in two ways. First are those insects that drop into the water from the trees. Second are those insects that spend time in the cool shade and fly over the water, to be grabbed by the fish. This source of insects has been shown to be vital to the survival of Chinook and Coho salmon, and Cutthroat Trout
Invasive plants spreading in marine riparian
Many people that live along the water introduce plants into the nearshore without realizing it. We know from seeing what has happened in Washington State and other locations that several plants that we grow in our gardens can actually take over estuaries and nearshore ecosystems. When this happens the habitat (food and homes) of several native birds and animals disappears, and the ecosystem can’t work properly. It is important to remove invasive species and re-establish native plants.
How plants are introduced
Some have a seawall and toss their lawn and garden clippings over into the ocean, thinking it will be taken away. The currents however can carry these plants to other locations where they start themselves.
Other landowners have gardens planted along the edge of the backshore, or replace the backshore with a garden. Invasive species will spread into the nearshore by rhizome, seeds, or clippings.
Plants to remove
MVIHES mapped the vegetation in the Englishman River Estuary and found several key species that need to be managed. We also created an initial visual tool re health of the marine riparian. The list below is based on this mapping work.
There are many invasive plants on the coast and other sources will provide detailed information.
Last fall Shaw TV did a story on the Watershed Monitoring Program. We wanted to highlight the story again as it does a great job of explaining what we're doing and why we're out there.
