They're back. Residents around the Coast have spotted salmon returning to spawn in the creeks and waterways they emerged from in years past.
Notable this year is a return of pink salmon to Gibsons and Langdale creeks, a first in recent memory.
"It's quite an event, because it certainly hasn't happened in the last 15 years or so. It's nice to see them back. It was a big surprise to all of us because the creek is not that easily accessible for fish or salmon," said Paul Van Poppelen, a biologist for the Squamish Nation.
He added that the state of the creek has also been poor in recent years.
Van Poppelen said he has personally seen about 20 pink salmon in the creek, and he has heard there are more.
"[The return] won't be in the hundreds, but it's still a fair number. The interesting thing is they are coming back," he said.
Van Poppelen said the salmon were likely from a batch of thousands of fry dumped into Gibsons harbour two years ago.
Salmon tend to return to the general areas they were spawned in and then use scent to find their way to a suitable spawning area.
Van Poppelen said this year's return is a good omen for the future of pinks in Gibsons Creek.
"If they manage to spawn and the fry make it, they'll be back in two years' time," he said.
The return of the pinks has led to some community action as well. As a result, the Gibsons Streamkeepers group is banding together again to help "make [the streams] more fish-friendly and find ways to help the fish get by the large culvert there," Van Poppelen said. "Let's get it going again."
Bob Anstead, president of the Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society, said this year's return of pinks to Chapman Creek is one for the record books.
"Our pink salmon run was the biggest we've had since we started the program in 1993," he said.
He said this year's chum salmon return is slightly higher than average, but there are fewer chinook salmon than in previous years and coho salmon numbers are "right where they are supposed to be."
The result, Anstead said, is a healthy recreational fishery on the Coast.
"There were a lot of fish caught a lot of very happy fishermen. We've had fishermen from all over the world again this year," he said. "Seven months of recreational fishing provides a good economic opportunity for the Sunshine Coast as well as food for the table."
Anstead said recreation fishing is very low on the list of threats to the various salmon species. He said we can expect to see the salmon in the creeks for about one more week.
This year's return comes as the federal government has announced a judicial review looking into the collapse of sockeye salmon stocks in the Fraser River. The Sunshine Coast is home to pinks, coho, chum and chinook.
