If you have never been allowed to play with your food, now is your chance.

Mount Douglas Park, home to one of Greater VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 urban salmon spawning creeks, is playing host to the Friends of Mount Douglas Park  annual salmon carcass toss on Saturday.

The public is welcome and encouraged to help throw about 100 frozen salmon carcasses in and around Douglas creek in an effort to feed vital nutrients into the creekB次元官网网址檚 ecosystem.

B次元官网网址淚t sounds negative but it is positive,B次元官网网址� said Darrell Wick, president of the Friends of Mount Douglas Park Society. B次元官网网址淎 lot of people donB次元官网网址檛 even know there is salmon in this creek.B次元官网网址�

Provided by the Howard English Hatchery based near Goldstream Park in Langford, frozen salmon are fished from the waters of Goldstream river and transported to Mount Doug to decompose and provide food for insects and fauna.

Insects in turn, are consumed by the 20,000 to 40,000 young chum and coho fry that will hatch in the spring and become the next generation of salmon to spawn there.

The Friends of Mount Doug is the first society in Canada to obtain the permission from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to transport carcasses from one watershed to another.

Because the population of salmon at Douglas creek has not yet grown to the point where they naturally feed enough nutrients into the ecosystem, the annual carcass toss event remains a vital element to sustaining the population.

B次元官网网址淲e donB次元官网网址檛 have a lot of salmon coming back, the creek is somewhat sterile. We are trying to get it going,B次元官网网址� Wick said. B次元官网网址淚 think it is really important. It is all these little creeks that provide the salmon habitat. If we want to  have salmon we have to make sure these little creeks survive. Salmon is a good indicator for the health of the ecosystem.B次元官网网址�

The salmon carcass toss at Douglas Creek is Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Meet at the Edgemont Road park access point.

For more information, visit .

alim@vicnews.com