LOCAL NEWS: NATALIE MACMASTER TO VISIT ▼ A13
Times
Thursday, November 5, 2015 ▼ Volume 51 No. 45 ▼ www.clearwatertimes.com ▼ $1.35 Includes GST
THE
NORTH THOMPSON
NO SLASH BURNING:
2014
CCNA BLUE RIBBON
Union asks about waste. See A11 inside.
First Place Best All Round Newspaper & Best Editorial Page Second Place Best Front Page All of Canada <1,250 circulation 2014 First Place General Excellence B.C. and Yukon <2,000 circulation 2014
Fire department entertains with big bangs and smoke Left: Fireworks explode over the Clearwater race-track on Hallowe'en as seen from the dock at Dutch Lake beach. Below: Members of the Rorison family enjoy the show. Pictured are (clockwise from top) Liam, Nikki, Emma-Lee and Brooklynn. More photos are on page A11 inside. Photos by Keith McNeill
Simpcw hold 20th annual Coho Day
Keith McNeill
Two classes from Bert Edwards elementary school in Kamloops plus the primary students from Neqweyqwelsten School in Left: Fisheries officer Ron Hudema, formerly based in Clearwater, talks to students from Bert Edwards and Neqweyqwelsten schools about aquatic insects, were to find them, how to identify the insects and how they are important to fish as food. They were taking part in Coho Day at Simpcw First Nation’s hatchery near Dunn Lake on Oct. 29. Photo by Keith McNeill
Chu Chua took part in the 20th annual Coho Day put on by Simpcw First Nation at the Dunn Creek hatchery on Thursday, Oct. 29. “Our Coho Day is about promoting our facility and its stewardship capabilities within the valley from Kamloops to McBride,” said Tina Donald, one of the organizers. Dunn Creek hatchery is currently raising coho from Dunn Creek and, new this year, from Deadman River on behalf of Skeetchestn Indian Band. It also provides all the brood pairs for School District 73’s coho tank program, she said.
Highway 5 Little Fort, BC 250-677-4441
Stations at Coho Day included the fence site operation on Dunn Creek, where students saw how coho are counted as they go upstream. Simpcw member Leon Eustache told traditional stories, either by the creek or in a nearby pit house. A bug station put on by Ron Hudema, formerly of Clearwater Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), taught about aquatic insects. Tom Nevin, DFO community advisor to Dunn Creek hatchery, used a fish wheel to show the students the low probability of salmon survival.
Highway 5 Clearwater, BC 250-674-3148
Located on Highway 5
The hatchery near Dunn Lake has been in operation since 1983. It started out raising coho and chinook on south end of Dunn Lake in lake pens. In the late 1980s its location changed to the north of the lake. It moved to its current position on Dunn Creek (downstream from the lake) in 1993. Other agencies and individuals that participated in Coho Day included District of Clearwater, District of Barriere, Kinder Morgan Canada, Chief Nathan Matthew, BC Parks, Secwepemc Fisheries, Tolko, plus Simpcw and hatchery staff.