Herring Happenings of 2026

Jun 8, 2026 | Herring

On Thursday May 14th, the MSI hosted ‘Herring Happenings of 2026’ at the Brackendale Art Gallery (BAG) in Squamish.

This annual event coordinated by MSI brought together volunteers, partners, contractors, funders, and interested community members for an evening of learning and reflecting on this season’s herring spawn monitoring. The event featured:

    • Stories about herring in Átl’ka7tsem / Howe Sound
    • Results from our 2026 Search for Slhawt’ / Herring Program
    • Guest speakers from Squamish Nation and Marine Life Sanctuaries Society
    • Trivia and prizes for volunteers and participants
    • A  short film from our Indigenous Youth Marine Education Program

We had approximately 50 people attend the event, including our volunteers, staff, partners, and interested community members. The BAG staff were fantastic hosts, keeping everyone well supplied in food and drink in a beautiful space.

Speakers shared their stories and knowledge about slhawt’ / herring during the event:

  • Matthew Williams, Squamish Nation member – opened the evening with words about his relationship to slhawt’ (herring) and a song about Yéw̓yews (orca).
  • Joey Moore, Squamish Nation ACE Technician – shared about his experience snorkeling in the cold waters of Átl’ka7tsem this year, looking for herring eggs.
  • Gwyn Taylor, MSI Search for Slhawt’ Program Coordinator – shared results from the 2026 Search for Slhawt’ Program.
  • Melanie Warren, Marine Life Sanctuaries Society (MLSS) – presented about the new MLSS herring spawn survey program that was initatited this year in collaboration with the MSI.

We ended the evening off by sharing a short film about our new Indigenous Youth Marine Education Program, presented by MSI’s Project Director, Ellika Cairns. 

We had custom stickers made by a local artist, Malika Bindra. Participants had the chance to win prizes throughout the evening by answering trivia questions about herring.

Summary of the 2026 herring spawn season

This year we had 87 volunteers helping us search for slhawt’. They walked and paddled shorelines diligently looking for herring eggs from late January to the end of April, logging a total of 226 volunteers hours.

MSI staff and contractors spent an additional 343 hours on boats and snorkeling kilometers of remote shoreline, coming to a total of 569 hours searching for slhawt’ in 2026!

Eggs were found along 5km of shoreline across the Squamish Estuary, and 2.6km of shoreline near Foulger Creek.

Thank you very much to everyone who made this event possible!

With special thanks to the BC Hydro Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program for providing funding to support the event.

Our full report on the 2026 Searching for Slhawt’ Program will be available on our website in the coming months.

Related links: