Fishing the West Coast is our annual photo contest and exhibit. You can vote for your favourite photo until March 2nd! Visit the Cannery or vote on Flickr!
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 Photo courtesy of Chatelaine. Baby, it’s still cold outside. Warm up this spring with a steaming pot of Chatelaine‘s featured Oceanwise mussels, recipe below. Dreaming of daffodils doesn’t hurt either. Ingredients
Don’t forget the crusty bread when preparing for this sweet curry dish. The mouth-watering tomato-coconut curry sauce will have you wanting seconds…and thirds. Instructions
 Photo courtesy of Slow Fish. Slow Fish is the marine branch of the Slow Food movement and makes for a great educational resource for all things fishy. The objective of the project is to further understanding of the current state of oceans and to provide consumers with the tools to make informed decisions about their seafood. A particularly inspirational feature is their Fishing Heros series, which showcases the contributions of an international selection of chefs and fishermen, each doing their bit to promote sustainability in their home ports.  Photo courtesy of the Globe and Mail. Remember the great sockeye run of 2010? According to the Globe and Mail, early DFO predictions indicate that this summer’s run could top it to become the largest seen in living history. Sockeye salmon have a four-year cycle, meaning that this summer’s dominant run is the direct result of the high numbers of spawners in 2010. It may be too early to predict exact numbers, but favourable ocean conditions and a record migration of young sockeye out of the Fraser in the spring of 2012 are a solid basis for (cautious) optimism amongst fishermen. Read the full story here.
The answer to last week’s mystery “What am I?”: It’s a Coho Salmon! Want to know how to tell this species of salmon apart from all the others? Well for starters, the Coho’s tongue is black, and its gums are white. If you’re not able to get a good look inside this fish’s mouth, there are still a few ways to “spot” the difference. One is from its spots of course! The Coho salmon have round spots all along their backs, and even on the upper portion of their tails. Coho are also known as silver salmon because of their coloring. These fish have a greenish-blue back, and silver sides. With a visit to the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site, not only can you learn all about the different species of salmon at our Fish Wall exhibit, but you can also check out our LIVE baby Coho! Currently, our Coho are at the alevin stage, but be sure to come by often, and watch them grow all the way to fry. The babies are on display in our lobby until late April or early May, at which time they will be released back into the wild. Next week’s “What am I” mystery item:
And the answer to last week’s “What am I” mystery item: It’s a retort! What was a retort used for? During the cannery’s operational days, the retort cooked the raw salmon in the cans. This steam-powered pressure-cooker would kill all bacteria and other organisms in the fish, ensuring that it could be safely eaten. Cooking, however, was not the only use of this colossal machine! Today, Steveston may look quaint and quiet, but during its cannery heyday, it was quite a different story. Steveston, believe it or not, was a rough-and-tumble town with a number of saloons, brothels, gambling dens, and opium dens —and a lot of lawlessness. So much lawlessness that, when the jail ran out of room for tipsy townspeople, they’d be tossed into a retort! No, we didn’t cook them. The door of the retort would be closed up, with a little bit of room for air, and was used as a ‘drunk tank’ instead! Come see this machine and many more at the Cannery, open daily from 10am to 5 pm, and learn the unique stories that accompany each one! Next week’s mystery:
Good luck! And keep the guesses coming! 
For la première fois ever, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery will be represented at Maillardville‘s annual Festival du Bois in Coquitlam this weekend. The fabulous francophone festival promises to be filled with great music, entertainment and, most importantly, poutine! If you find yourself in that neck of the woods (pun intended!) on Saturday . . . → Read More: Come visit us at Festival du Bois!  Image courtesy of Vancouver Sun. The increasing acidity of West Coast waters is reported to have caused the deaths of 10 million scallops near Qualicum Beach in today’s Vancouver Sun. High acidity, due to the absorption of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, has pushed the pH of local water from an average of 8.2 as . . . → Read More: Highly Acidic Water = Low Scallop Harvest 
Come join us for some spring break fun! The Cannery will be featuring Titanium Chef, an interactive skit about sustainable seafood choices, daily at 11:30am and 2:30pm (*subject to change due to programming schedule). Complete the experience by learning more about sustainable choices with a scavenger hunt around the . . . → Read More: Spring Break at the Cannery!  Should you be lucky enough to know a fisherman with a smoker, this BBC GoodFood recipe is an ideal way to use up that smoked salmon in your freezer. If you’re buying salmon like the rest of us, remember to choose sustainable pink, with has a lovely delicate colour and subtle flavour. Bon appetit! Ingredients . . . → Read More: Scrumptious Seafood: Smoked Salmon & Lemon Risotto  Join us this weekend for an in-depth look at our current feature exhibit Ryoshi – Nikkei Fishermen of the BC Coast. Learn about the contributions of Japanese Canadians to the West Coast fishing industry both before and after World War II. Our volunteers will be leading special guided tours 11am-3pm on Saturday and Sunday in . . . → Read More: Join us for Heritage Afloat! |
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