April 19, 2007

 

SCHOOLCHILDREN RELEASE SALMON IN STANLEY PARK STREAM

Vancouver, BC: Schoolchildren from Newton Elementary in Surrey helped launch the 5th annual Goodbye Salmon Fry event today at the Vancouver Aquarium, releasing dozens of salmon fry into the Alcan Salmon Pool in Stanley Park. The Vancouver Aquarium will release more than 10,000 coho salmon fry this season.

The Alcan Salmon Pool connects to the BC Hydro Salmon Stream Project in Stanley Park, which winds its way through Stanley Park to Coal Harbour and serves to educate park visitors about the importance of salmon and their habitat.

During Goodbye Salmon Fry, April 21 and 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors to the Aquarium get to help release baby salmon, sending hundreds of young salmon off on their journey to the Pacific Ocean.

Goodbye Salmon Fry weekend festivities include crafts, face painting, daily salmon stream tours, salmon dissections and gyotaku fish painting. Visitors can also name the salmon they release and receive a certificate commemorating the event.

Goodbye Salmon Fry kicks off Earth Day (April 22) as well as the Aquarium’s 30 Days of Sustainability, a special month of family activities and displays that show people ways to help save the environment. Inside the Aquarium in lower Pacific Canada, a special interactive sustainability exhibit shows visitors how even the smallest changes can make a world of difference.