Partnering with universities that are developing leading edge scientific research on salmon is one of our guiding principles at Mossom Creek Hatchery. We believe the best way to improve the success of returning spawning salmon is to identify areas of concern using research.

In 2023, we teamed up with the UBC Pacific Salmon Ecology & Conservation Lab led by Dr. Scott Hinch. His students surgically inserted v7 telemetry tags into 90 coho smolts reared at Mossom Creek Hatchery. We could only tag 90 smolts due to the cost of each tag. Mossom volunteers installed 5 pairs of receivers in Burrard Inlet spanning ranges across north-south shores from Port Moody to Lions Gate Bridge. Once the tagged coho were released, these receivers detected the smolts as they passed by.

The results confirmed our suspicions. The majority of the tagged coho remained in the eastern portion of Burrard Inlet for some time with only 15% making it as far as the mouth of Indian Arm and 10% passing Lions Gate. These results are similar to other studies of salmon releases in BC. There is a significant presence of fish-eating birds and other predators such as harbour seals all around the Burrard Inlet. In addition to natural predators, there are significant human impacts such as Port of Vancouver industrial and shipping activity, as well as pleasure craft. Over the years we have seen increased hardened shorelines which affects the safe passage for smolts. The larger port terminals have lights on 24/7 which facilitate increased predation. Pollution may also be a factor. All this makes salmon passage to the open ocean challenging.

This 2023 study was published in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management.

Based on these initial findings, Mossom board approved a second phase of this inquiry using PIT tags. (passive integrated tags). PIT tagging has been around for some time. Recently UBC developed a lower cost technology to track PIT-tagged fish on their out-migration and their return as spawners. This will enable us to tag all 4000 of the coho smolts raised and released by Mossom Creek Hatchery. These tags as small as a grain of rice and are inserted in the belly cavity of the young coho. They will remain in the salmon for their entire life (no battery needed). As the coho return as adults and pass through the antenna array installed at the Mossom Creek estuary in Port Moody they will be individually identified. Each tag has a unique number. This project is significantly cheaper than the v7 tag project we did in 2023 and allows us to tag 100% of Mossom-raised coho. Rather than relying on visual inspection along the creek to find the spawners, the antenna array will pick up every coho that returns to our creek night or day. This is a first for a community hatchery and DFO has already expanded this study to include Noons Creek Hatchery. If this technology is as successful as we hope, it could be used in all community hatcheries to identify returning salmon spawning success.

Release locations: In Mossom Creek right beside the hatchery, in the sea pen located to the west of the mouth of Mossom Creek estuary, and in Burrard Inlet beyond Indian Arm.  We should be able to see which release point is most favourable.

We will immediately see the first results of those released in Mossom Creek. As coho swim out of the  creek and into Port Moody Arm, the tags will be read and recorded. We hope to tag Mossom coho for next 5 years and will need to continue to raise money for this important research.

Stay tuned for all developments about this exciting project.