Langley’s Nicomekl Enhancement Society is hosting an open house this weekend.
Running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 15, at the facility, located at 5263 232nd St., the event will feature the release of 25,000 chum salmon into the Nicomekl River system.
There will be free hotdogs and pop (donations are welcomed) with live music, as well as a scavenger hunt organized by the B.C. Wildlife Federation, and a limited amount of candied salmon for sale.
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Society president Nigel Easton said it’s been a difficult season due to a lack of rain.
“We have had very bad returns of salmon this year due to very low water and a lot of salmon stuck at the sea dam at King George,” Easton said.
While plenty of rain has been falling recently, “we needed it back in October and November,” Easton told the Langley Advance Times.
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The society got its start in 1989, when the Langley Rod and Gun Club hosted a public meeting to organize a group of Langley area volunteers willing to work on restoring and enhancing the troubled Nicomekl River watershed.
First known as Fish for your Future, and later as the Nicomekl Enhancement Society, the all-volunteer organization has released hundreds of thousands of salmon fry into the Nicomekl River, which originates in the Township of Langley and flows east to west through the City of Langley and Surrey to Mud Bay at Blackie’s Spit.
For more information, visit nicomeklsalmonhatchery.com or their Facebook page.
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