Rehabilitation of Estuarine Fish Habitat at Campbell River, British Columbia

This study, at the Campbell River estuary in British Columbia, involved a detailed evaluation of the use of artificial islands by juvenile salmonids and their epibenthic prey species. Wild salmonid fry, particularly chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha , were caught in the created habitat in numbers equal to or greater than in the reference habitats. Hatchery fish were less abundant in the islands. The abundance of several invertebrates increased with time at the created habitat sites. By the third or fourth year after island construction, they had reached densities similar to those at reference site (e.g., Manayunkia spp., oligochaetes, chironomids, and other dipterans). However, the abundance of some amphipods (e.g., Eogammarus sp.) did not match that observed at the reference site. After 5 years they were providing detrital production, fish habitat, and food items that are frequently eaten by juvenile salmonids, and resulted in a net gain of the capability of the Campbell River estuary to support fish production.