Sponsor A Salmon at Kus-kus-sum
Video by Shane Philip of Island Soul Films
Sponsoring a salmon
If you represent a business a sponsorship of $500 or more will get you a “business salmon” which includes a photo op and social media posts.
Why salmon for this fundraiser?
The 440 meters of steel wall that lines the Kus-kus-sum site is used by seals to effectively prey on salmon as they pass the site going down river as juveniles and up river as adults. There is no salt marsh for the salmon to hide in and no channel for them to escape into. Female seals have been recorded placing their young along the wall near the surface of the water. Then these mothers dive down and chase salmon into the wall and up into the mouths of their young. Because of these factors the wall has been nicknamed the “Killing Wall”.
Salmon already have a hard enough journey going from egg to spawner. From each thousand eggs that are laid, only a few adult salmon survive to continue their species. We initiated this fundraiser as a reminder that restoring Kus-kus-sum will give salmon going up into or coming down from the Puntledge, Browns, Morrison and Tsolum Rivers a better chance of survival.
Help fall the killing wall and save salmon at Kus-kus-sum!
Fundraiser Details
Project Watershed’s latest fundraising endeavor “Sponsor a Salmon at Kus-kus-sum” combines education and stewardship. Students from Queneesh, Arden, Brooklyn, Puntledge and Royston Schools have participated in estuary presentations given by staff and volunteers of Project Watershed. Most of those students have gone on, or will go on, a field trip to learn about the estuary and Kus-kus-sum first-hand. Project Watershed has also provided a group of parents and children from Comox Valley Nature Kids with a field trip. Field trip activities have included beach seining, the salmon verses seals game, estuary walks, bird talks, water science, ancient fish trap building and salt marsh planting. Activity leaders have included Fisheries and Oceans staff, School District 71 staff and Project Watershed staff and volunteers.
Inspired by that learning, the students have created written pieces and painted wooden salmon. The education program and the wooden salmon were sponsored by the Peninsula Co-op and Central Builders Home Hardware. The Comox Valley Regional District also helped fund the education component of this initiative.
Community members are being encouraged to sponsor the painted wooden salmon as a fundraiser for Kus-kus-sum. A salmon can be sponsored through a donation of $25 or more. Donors will receive a charitable tax receipt for the full amount of their donation. The name of the student who painted the salmon and the donor will go on the back of the salmon. The salmon will then be put up on the Kus-kus-sum fence along Comox Road. Donors will be invited, but are not required, to hang the salmon on the fence at Kus-kus-sum. Our next salmon hanging days are July 11, 12 and 13! Volunteers will be on site to assist. All funds raised through the initiative will go towards the Kus-kus-sum project. Read more about the Kus-kus-sum Project …
Business Sponsorship
If you are a business you can sponsor salmon too! Businesses will get a sponsorship receipt, photo op, social media posts and their name on a big coroplast salmon. The size of the salmon will depend on the amount of the sponsorship as outlined below. Sponsorships can be made using the form below or by emailing info@projectwatershed.ca.
Pink Salmon
$500 – 2 ft x 1ft wooden salmon with business logo
Sockeye Salmon
$1,500 – 3 ft x 1.5 ft wooden salmon with business logo
Chinook Salmon
$4,500 – 4 ft x 2 ft wooden salmon with business logo
Thank You
A variety of volunteers donated their time to cut the salmon shapes out of the plywood, seal the completed artworks and help hang them on the fence. Thanks everyone for helping us unpave paradise!
