WHATEVER happened to those stencilled yellow salmon that used to be a much greater part of the North Shore landscape?
Perhaps the proliferation of the salmon silhouettes on our curbs tended to dull our notice of them, but we still believe they make careless do-ityourselfers think twice about pouring paint thinner or used antifreeze into a storm drain.
It's still a common misconception that storm drains connect to the municipal sewerage and drainage system. In fact, almost all of them drain directly into North Shore creeks.
No one would consciously poison the water of an aquarium set up in a child's bedroom, but out-of-sight is sometimes out-of mind. How else to explain the actions of whomever poisoned the 100 or more young coho in Mackay Creek recently. It wasn't a prolonged incident. The creek's water was clean when subsequently tested. So just a moment's thoughtlessness likely reduced the number of salmon that will return to the creek to spawn two years from now.
Urban creeks are already under such intense pressure from every direction - culverting, oil and gas runoff from our roads, the loss of riparian habitat to development - that it's something of a miracle if we manage to keep a few trout in our streams, never mind spawning salmon.
The fact that we have any at all is in large part due to the efforts of a handful of dedicated streamkeepers and a bunch of young but eager school children.
We could all do a better job of supporting their efforts.
