Salmon returning to Vancouver Island streams with rain

After a late start to Vancouver Island's rainy fall season this year, water levels in local rivers have started to rise, increasing space for spawning salmon.

The Goldstream Fish Hatchery says this year's salmon run began about two weeks late. Since the run began, roughly 1,600 fish have made their way up the Goldstream River, according to the hatchery.

Water levels in the Colquitz River in Saanich are looking good for salmon, too.

"Right now, the river is in a good position down at this end of it for the salmon to start advancing up," said Dorothy Chambers of Salmon in the City, a volunteer group that monitors salmon returns on the Colquitz.

"The rain makes all the difference," said Aaron Hill of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, a non-profit environmental advocacy group.

"Fish need cool, clean water to do their business, and with global warming we've seen an increasingly severe drought and flood cycle that's having a tremendous impact, so it's such a relief when we get the rain."

Hill says governments need to do more than just wait for the rain to fall if they hope to save and strengthen wild salmon populations amid climate change.

He called on the provincial NDP government to deliver on a campaign promise to provide stable funding for groups protecting salmon habitat.

"The Watershed Security Fund would support things like habitat restoration projects (and) local monitoring, so people can keep a closer eye on what's happening in their creeks and rivers," Hill said.