Herring spawn in False Creek

Seagulls enjoying the feast: an unprecedented herring spawn in False Creek, on restored habitat created as part of the Olympic Village sustainability features.

Photos circulating at City Hall taken Monday show a gratifying victory for the city’s sustainability efforts at Southeast False Creek: herring spawn on the beach built adjacent to the Olympic Village. As photographer John Harper notes in his e-mail, “restoration doesn’t get any better than this.” Actually, this is brand new habitat, fabricated with fill from the site, boulders from the Sea to Sky Highway, careful plantings and two “predator poles” recycled from windfall created by the Stanley Park blowdown several years ago. Harper believes the spawn stretched for more than a kilometre.

Of course, herring spawned in False Creek in the past, but not for many years. Last year, very high coliform counts were recorded in the creek, which still receives raw sewage during heavy rain.

Herring roe on kelp in the intertidal zone off the Olympic Village development in False Creek.