The Water Ship News – September 2018

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A Volunteer Service of the Goldstream Volunteer Salmonid Enhancement Association
Editor – Kate MacDonald
GVSEA publishes the Water Ship News on a monthly basis for educators, secondary students, agencies and community organizations. The ‘News informs participants in Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Stream to Sea Program in the Capital Regional District. The ‘News also notifies students and educators of training and volunteer opportunities concerning species enhancement and habitat restoration. In turn, community organizations find the support they require to fulfill their objectives.For the 2018/19 school year, I will act as Program Coordinator for the South Vancouver Island Stream to Sea program.  I have also taken on the role as a GVSEA volunteer and am pleased to be the new editor of this valuable newsletter.Please direct all inquiries about programming, including Classroom Incubation and Storm Drain Marking, to Kate MacDonald (katemacdonaldjulicher@gmail.com)

Please contact Education Coordinator Don Lowen at donlowen27@gmail.com if you have inquiries or concerns about any of the following:

  • Stream to Sea program policy
  • Funding partnerships
  • Program payables and receivables
Don and I will work together to deliver the program until the end of this school year, at which time Don will retire.

CLASSROOM INCUBATION UPDATES:

Deadline October 12th – Time to Get in Touch
As we set up the schedule and gather materials, it is time for you to indicate whether or not you intent to participate in this year’s Classroom Incubation Program.  Just send an email before October 12 to katemacdonaldjulicher@gmail.com indicating your intention to continue.

Following this, you may have 1 more task to perform; confirm whether or not there is an incubation kit in your school, AND that you have the school’s permission to operate it this year.  Most of you already have this information, especially if you participated last year using a kit that you did not borrow.

If you have not participated before, check the schedule below and ensure that you are able to commit to this program.

Priorities
This September newsletter goes to several agency and NGO contacts, all of last year’s participants, and to new teachers who have already expressed interest this year. I will determine the project list from those who submitted an application prior to October 12th, based on these priorities:

  1. Last year’s participants.
  2. Participants who have asked to be on the project list biennially.
  3. New participants.

Wait List
This is the 30th year of South Vancouver Island’s Classroom Incubation Program, and I estimate that I have the resources to support 100 incubation projects if there are not too many new participants. We will draw the line at 106 projects this year. Please note the level of interest has increased steadily over the past ten years, while the financial resources remain the same.

Calendar
The following events and dates comprise the 2018/19 calendar of events for the Classroom Incubation Program.

  1. Friday October 12 – Deadline for submitting application.
  2. ­­This year’s workshops are all on Thursday’s at 4 PM. Venue is Tillicum School, 3155 Albina Street, near the intersection of Burnside and Tillicum Roads.
  • November 8 – Program orientation/registration for newcomers (Mandatory for newcomers)
  • January 10 – Classroom incubation technical workshop (Mandatory for newcomers)
  • February 7 – Dissection workshop. All are welcome
  1. By January 18 – All incubators up and running (tentative).
  2. Week of January 28 – Tentative dates for egg delivery
  3. Late April / early May – fry releases
  4. By May 31st – Submit release data.

Chiller and Cart Purchase – The Goldstream Volunteer Salmonid Enhancement Association has received funds to manufacture and sell 6 aquarium chillers at a cost of $582.40 each including tax.
2 aquarium carts purchased last year are for sale at $448 each.
These prices are exactly 50% of the retail cost, and are subsidized thanks to a generous grant from the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
Please contact me at katemacdonaldjulicher@gmail.com for more information and/or to purchase one of these units.

Rotary Dial Thermostats – If you are using the older rotary dial thermostat, I strongly recommend that you replace it with a digital thermostat this fall. Cost is $272.50 plus tax. The work would be completed in Victoria by the manufacturer, and coordinators will pick up and return units to be repaired. Deadline October 31st.
Contact me at katemacdonaldjulicher@gmail.com for more information.

STORM DRAIN MARKING:
Interested in some legal graffiti? Looking for a stewardship project for your class? The Storm Drain Marking Program increases our understanding of point source pollution, and strengthens our conscious connection with the natural world. Contact me at katemacdonaldjulicher@gmail.comfor more information.
If you are a school group located in the Mount Douglas Watershed, volunteers from the Friends of Mount Douglas Park Society are happy to assist you with a storm drain marking field trip.  In advance of the trip, your group will need to book a 45 minute in-class presentation.  Please contact Kate for the in-class portion, and Graham Shorthill for the fieldtrip portion:  shorthill@shaw.ca 

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES:
GOLDSTREAM HATCHERY TOURS

Goldstream Hatchery volunteers will provide 10 hatchery tours this fall. Each date is for one class only. Tours are sixty minutes in duration, from approximately 10:30 to 11:30AM. The tour will include a close-up of hatchery activities in the incubation room, rearing tanks and holding tanks, and may include actual participation in a salmon egg take and fertilization, if broodstock is available for the demonstration. The Goldstream Hatchery is about 20 kilometers from downtown Victoria, via Sooke Lake Road. Directions and rendezvous information will be sent to registrants. New security restrictions require that your vehicle or vehicles travel in convoy behind me, once we enter the reservoir. If you plan to transport your class in parents’ cars, you will need to ensure that they arrive together and on time.

This year’s tour dates begin Wednesday November 7, and continue every Wednesday and Friday until Friday December 7. 

To book a tour for your class, please email katemacdonaldjulicher@gmail.com providing your ideal tour date and grade level to check availability.
Please note that organizers cannot guarantee the participation of spawning salmon in this program. Weather and bear sightings may necessitate tour cancellations. First come, first served.
Cowichan Community Land Trust Society – Notice of Annual General Meeting
7:00PM, Thursday, September 27, 2018
Cowichan Estuary Nature Centre, 1845 Cowichan Bay Road, Cowichan Bay, BC  MORE INFO
Join us for this must-see, inspirational presentation on Lessons Learned from Killer Whales
Sept 25. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Program begins at 7:00 pm. Free admission.
Location: Vancouver Island University, Building 250, Room 125.
Presenter, Jackie Hildering, will trace back the human social evolution with Killer Whales, discussing how these whales are powerful indicators of human value systems.
MORE INFO
The International Year of the Salmon (IYS) has begun (and actually will run through to 2023, so several years!).
To kick things off, the IYS is hosting a salmon and people PHOTO CONTEST! The contest runs until the end of September, and is open to anyone. You are asked to submit photos showing salmon and people together. There are two categories: Youth and Adult.  MORE INFO
Kids can earn their free CRD Watershed Warden badge by learning about, and taking of, their local watersheds.
Supporting online place-based resources include short videos, watershed maps, printable activities and graphics. Learn more at: www.crd.bc.ca/watersheds    LEARN MORE
The Peninsula Streams Society is looking for new schools (Grade 3) to deliver our Watershed Model and Salmon Lifecycle Program.
Can be scheduled to coincide with your school’s salmon fry release. Students will come out with knowledge on the water cycle, how watersheds function, how pollution affects the environment, and the salmon lifecycle. LEARN MORE
Imagine If is a podcast about climate resiliency, where we hear stories from high school students who are experiencing the real-life impacts of climate change and trying to find solutions in their communities. And then we pass them the mic to ask experts about how to tackle these global challenges.  MORE INFO
Interested in volunteering at the Colquitz fish counting fence?  Check out this opportunity from Dorothy of Salmon in the City: MORE INFO
Stewardship Community Bursary – Pacific Salmon Foundation
Deadline November 15
The Spirit of this bursary is to reduce the financial barriers to achieving success for aquatic stewardship volunteers enrolled in education and training programs that support their goal of a career in salmon conservation.  MORE INFOThe Pacific Salmon Foundation’s Community Salmon Program(CSP) is a grantmaking program that supports volunteer and community–driven organizations that undertakes salmon conservation and restoration projects in British Columbia and the Yukon. MORE INFO
 

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