March

The alevins are hatching
Hatching continues, as the coho eggs hatch into alevin. In nature, the alevin will remain in the gravel in the river, so, to simulate that, our alevin remain in the incubators. Over time the alevin will develop into fry. Once the fry are buttoned up (they have absorbed their yolk sacks into their bodies, the fry are moved from the incubators and placed into the Capilano Troughs. At the peak, the BIH can have over 600,000 fry and juveniles on site! Not bad for a volunteer run hatchery!

BIH staff and volunteers can be seen feeding the fry several times a day. Most of the fry, the pinks and chum, only stay with us for a few weeks before they smolt (they adapt for life in salt water in an intermediary stage). This process marks the beginning of their migration from their home stream to the ocean.

Coho have a different lifecycle. The fry and juveniles will stay resident in the local watershed for a little over year after emerging from the gravel before they smolt and migrate out to brackish (partly salt) water.

The rearing ponds will have the previous year’s coho juveniles, and these can most easily be seen during feeding time (typically every other day). As the waters warm, feeding will return to every day.