Where to go see salmon in the Vancouver area?

by | Dec 1, 2006 | Vancouver | 4 comments

You’d think we’d all be issued little booklets with this information the moment we cross into the city limits, but no. So all you old Vancouver hands: where should we go to take our kids and see a salmon run?

4 Comments

  1. James
    James on 1 Dec 2006 at 16:43

    Rob, when I read your headline I thought you were baiting me. (Haw!) The absolute best place to see salmon up close is the Capilano Hatchery (Map). The fish ladder the salmon climb passes behind a transparent plexiglass wall allowing you to practically touch them.

    The problem though? The runs are over or nearly over for this year. The last salmon species to run, the coho, are in the rivers already and most have spawned and died. I posted on my blog yesterday about the sadness of the snowy end of the salmon run.

    To see salmon in a wilder setting, go to almost any north shore river (Capilano, Lynn, Seymour) and watch for the yellow salmon habitat sign. For next year the Think Salmon website will have a geolocation map of salmon spotting in communities throughout the Pacific Northwest.

  2. double-plus-ungood
    double-plus-ungood on 3 Dec 2006 at 13:05

    The kids and I go to the Capilano hatchery. Good hikes, including up to the dam (the dam hike, I call it, where we hike on the dam trail up to the dam viewpoint and look at all the dam water)(yes, the kids are really really tired of that joke), plus many fish behind glass.

  3. Rob
    Rob on 3 Dec 2006 at 15:27

    Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. James, it’s a pleasure to watch Think Salmon taking shape – it’s a terrific site and I encourage anyone who wants to know about salmon to visit.

    DPU, thanks for the recommendation on Capilano. I’ve been wondering how appropriate it would be for a 3-year-old, but it sounds like it could be great.

  4. Heather Deal
    Heather Deal on 20 Dec 2006 at 22:50

    I know I’m weighing in a bit late for this one, but I thought I’d let you know about 3 places within Vancouver to see salmon do their thing.

    1) The only surviving natural salmon-bearing stream in the city is Musqueam Creek. Go to Crown Street south of SW Marine and explore the creek where it travels through the park. This creek is home to Chum, Coho and Cutthroat trout. While you are there, check out the newly-opened green street project with bioswales, permeable pavement, etc.

    2) Spanish Banks Creek falls north off the endowment lands bank, flows under NW marine and then has a restored habitat area at Spanish Banks beach (there is a path bridge over the creek and some signage). Coho and Chum return to this restored creek.

    3) The newly-created stream in Stanley Park was built in 2000 as an exhibit about fish habitat. The exhibit starts in the Aquarium and the stream flows under the seawall near the info kiosk by the road to the Aquarium parking lot. There are a lot of signs and there is a growing population of Coho that now return every year.

    While the salmon-sightings aren’t as certain in these 3 sites as the hatchery, it is a chance to see a bit of what remains of the many streams that used to run through Vancouver.

    For those interested in salmon habitat, I would also recommend http://www.salmonopolis.ca.

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