On Oct. 25, a steady stream of people gathered along Hoy Creek in Coquitlam to mark the annual Salmon Come Home event, watching spawning salmon navigate shallow riffles and learning about local efforts to protect the waterways they depend on.
Community observation and local stewardship
Visitors lined a pedestrian bridge and sections of the creek bank to view the returning fish. With cameras and binoculars, families, anglers and nature enthusiasts paused to watch the silver-bodied salmon working their way upstream. Photographs from the event show fish concentrated in shallow, gravelly reaches of the creek and attendees gathered in small clusters to observe.
"Salmon Come Home event"
The gathering coincides with the beginning of the broader salmon-spawning season across British Columbia. While the event is an opportunity for public observation, organisers and educational groups use it to emphasise the importance of habitat protection — a message reflected in the event’s programming and the materials handed out to attendees.
Hoy Creek’s role in urban salmon habitat
Hoy Creek is one of a network of smaller urban streams that feed into larger river systems supporting Pacific salmon runs. These creeks are vulnerable to a range of pressures in an urban setting, including altered flow regimes, elevated water temperatures, sedimentation and loss of riparian cover. The Salmon Come Home event in Coquitlam serves as both a celebration of the species’ resilience and a reminder of ongoing conservation challenges.
Photographer Liang Sen of Xinhua documented the day, capturing people observing spawning salmon from the bridge and close-up images of salmon in the creek’s shallow waters. Those images underline a contrast: the species’ ancient life cycle playing out against a backdrop of suburban development and municipal infrastructure.
What attendees saw and learned
At the event, observers could:
- Watch spawning salmon in the creek’s gravel beds and shallow pools.
- Gather information about local habitat protection efforts and conservation initiatives.
- Connect with volunteers and organisations involved in stream stewardship.
Although the event is largely educational and observational, it also functions as civic engagement: a chance for residents to see firsthand how local waterways function as habitat and to consider how everyday choices — from landscaping to pet management and stormwater run-off — affect fish and stream health.
| Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Salmon Come Home | Oct. 25, 2026 | Hoy Creek, Coquitlam |
For Coquitlam, small streams like Hoy Creek are ecological threads connecting neighbourhoods to regional ecosystems. Protecting them requires co-ordinated action from local government, stewardship groups and residents. Events that draw citizens to the water to watch salmon spawn help keep the issue visible and personal.
As the province’s salmon-spawning season advances, the images and conversations from Hoy Creek will likely be echoed in other communities across British Columbia. In Coquitlam, the Salmon Come Home event remains a low-cost but potent reminder that urban residents can still experience the rhythms of wild species — provided the habitat and the public imagination are both kept healthy.
