On Monday, August 24, a dozen QBS volunteers assembled in the parking lot of the Memorial Golf Club in Qualicum Beach, ready to assist the Town of Qualicum Beach to conduct an annual removal of sediment from several caissons in Beach Creek. This work has been carried out for the past several years, as an effort to minimize sedimentation in the main irrigation pond on the golf course. The QBS role has been to assist in the safe removal of the salmon and trout in the caissons.
Shortly after the team’s arrival, Town staff inspected the water levels in the pond and neighbouring caissons, and discovered that the level of accumulated sediment was much less than expected. As result, the work plan for the day was cancelled.
Dave Clough, the fisheries biologist responsible for overseeing the fisheries work, observed that the lack of sediment was a positive development which resulted from reduced movement of sand and mud from upstream sites. This will benefit salmon habitat in Beach Creek in future years.
Since the volunteer team was ready to go to work, the members decided to instead carry out several independent fish counts on Beach Creek. Two counts took place on the golf course, and two further upstream in the Heritage Forest.
The lower fish count, in quite sandy and muddy bank conditions, found only one small and lonely coho smolt, indicating that the habitat was not appealing. The second upstream count, in much better habitat, found fourteen coho and thirteen cutthroat trout. The numbers were comparable to earlier counts in previous years, indicating that the population is remaining stable.
More fish counts are planned until September 15, when the DFO permit window ends. Members interested in participating in the fish counts are invoited to contact QBS at info@qbstreamkeepers.ca.