A class of Grade 2 and 3 students from Cilaire Elementary School mixed some fun with education when workers with the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. Vancouver Island Trout Hatchery carried out one of their spring trout releases Monday.
The event happened at Colliery Dam Park when the lake at the first dam was restocked with 250 catchable-size Fraser Valley rainbow trout the hatchery raises in Duncan. The hatchery stocks the lake several times annually with up to 3,000 trout and releases about 200,000 trout in Vancouver Island lakes, including the Colliery Dam lakes, Westwood, Long, Diver, Green, Brannen, Quennell and Blind lakes in Nanaimo.
The fish are sterile and bred solely for sport fishing for local anglers.
“These fish are sterile fish,” said Tristan Robbins, hatchery manager. “A couple reasons we do that; if they do evade predation and anglers for a year or two they just continue to grow and grow and grow. They don’t put any effort into producing eggs or milt. Secondly, if there is any natural reproduction in these lakes, these fish won’t interbreed with them and dilate the gene pool. They haven’t been exposed to natural predation, so they’re not as fit as some of the wild fish in these lakes.”
The hatchery also invited Rodney Hsu, a celebrity among B.C. sport fishermen. Hsu owns Fishing with Rod.com, a website focused on sport fishing in B.C. Hsu recorded the release on video for his website.
“I’m here to document the program to promote fishing in B.C.,” Hsu said. “I’ve fished since the age of five, so that’s almost 40 years since my dad started teaching me and that progressed into fishing at various places around B.C. and all over the world, actually.”
Kitty Kanhoffen, Cilaire teacher, brought her class so her students could learn about the hatchery program and let them have fun releasing the fish. Kanhoffen worked for the hatchery program before becoming a teacher and saw the release as a good opportunity to educate her students about the environment and get them connected with the outdoors.
“I’ll be bringing them back here tomorrow so they fish for some of the fish they’re releasing today,” Kanhoffen said.
The children will also be featured in Hsu’s online video documentary of the event.
The Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C. and the city are also hosting Family Fishing Day at Colliery Dam Park, June 14, as part of Family Fishing Weekend.
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