This summer, if you’ve been walking along the New Westminster Quay on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, chances are you’ve seen one of our interpreters leading a merry band of visitors along the boardwalk, canvas bag in hand, full of hands-on interpretive goodies. Since the beginning of July, our interpreters have been offering walking tours of the Fraser River. I like to think of these tours as a nature walking tour for those who don’t especially like walking and/or nature. (Of course, if you like walking and nature you are welcome to join in!) But these tours are more of a meander down the boardwalk with a friend who happens to know lots of wacky, entertaining facts about the plants and animals who live in the Fraser River Basin. Intrigued? This weekend (August 29th and 30th) will be the last weekend the tours will be offered for the summer season. Click here for more information. Hope to see you on the boardwalk!
The Fraser River sockeye salmon made national headlines last week when the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced that official count of returning salmon was only 1.7 million rather than the expected 10.6 million to 13 million. While salmon stocks have steadily been declining for years, this abysmal year seems to have caught many people by surprise. The sockeye salmon fishery has been closed and hundreds of sport, native and commercial fishermen are left in a tricky position.
It is not the purpose of this post to try to explain why the salmon have not returned or to criticize the actions of any particular group. This week, as the news coverage dies down, I’d simply like to encourage you to think about salmon and your impact on salmon – both positive and negative.
Personally, I love a good salmon dinner. In fact, last Monday, before I heard of the stories, I had bought a wild sockeye for dinner. After all this came to light, I decided that I can’t eat any more salmon until things get under control. And so, on Friday night, I celebrated the Fraser River sockeye with a glass of wine and a delicious salmon in what I dubbed my Last Sockeye Supper. I very much hope one day to be able to toast its return.
Welcome to the official Fraser River Discovery Centre blog. Here, you’ll find details of what staff and volunteers are up to in the Centre, events announcements as well as stories of what is happening out on the river. The Fraser is a mighty interesting river, so check back in!
