About the Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery Visitor Centre

The Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery Visitor Centre provides a fun and educational experience for all ages! This indoor/outdoor facility offers self-guided experiences for drop-in visitors including live fish aquariums and interactive displays.  You can also book one of our fun hands-on and educational programs all about fish and their habitat!

There is something to see and do for everyone. Take a self-guided journey through our living stream, watch a movie on freshwater fish and their habitat, and go on a fishy scavenger hunt. Admission for self-guided tours is by donation.

Location Details

The Visitor Centre is located approximately 45 minutes from Vancouver in Abbotsford.  From Vancouver follow Trans-Canada Highway 1 East towards Abbotsford and take exit #92 South (Sumas Way).  Turn right onto Vye Road, we are located on the right-hand side after Riverside Road.

Hours of Operation

Visitor Centre Drop-In Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10:00am - 3:00pm (Pacific Time).
Appointments for booked programs can be made by phone or email, 7 days a week.
We are closed on holidays.

Contact Information

Telephone: (604) 504-4716
Fax: (604) 504-4718
Email: Visit.FraserValley@GoFishBC.com

Mailing Address

34345 Vye Road, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 7P6

Programs and Events

Learn to Fish

Programs are available for youth and their families, adults, as well as organized groups including school groups, youth groups, boys and girls clubs, and groups with disabilities or special needs.  For more information on our Learn to Fish program please visit our learn to fish page.

Fishing Birthday Parties

Catch the fun with a Fishing Birthday party!  The parties are 2.5 hours of action packed, hands-on fun! Find more information on our fishing birthday parties.

School Programs - Field trips for classes

Are you a teacher?  The Visitor Centre has five informative, hands-on and interactive programs developed for pre-school, elementary, and secondary students.  These hands-on age specific programs tie into the B.C. School Curriculum's Prescribed Learning Outcomes as listed in the Integrated Resource Packages.  Pre and post field trip packages are available upon request.  They also compliment the 'Salmonids in the Classroom' project sponsored by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.  Below are the program descriptions with admission fees.

IT'S A TROUT'S LIFE

Grades K-2 1 hour, $3.00 per student Join Myki the rainbow trout for an hour exploring the daily adventures and obstacles fish face on their journey through life from egg to adult.  This hands-on program includes an interactive felt board story, role play, watching fish feed and colouring.

TROUT FAST FOOD

Grades 2-5 4 hours, $100.00 per class In this exciting program students will collect aquatic insects on-site and discover how they adapt to escape becoming trout fast food!  Microscopic study, aquatic insect identification, and human impacts on freshwater ecosystems are the main focus of this exploration day.

WHAT'S THAT HABITAT?

Grades 2-5 2 hours, $50.00 per class Children spend two hours discovering the unique features of a trout habitat and ways of caring for our freshwater ecosystems.  Topics of discussion include the role of hatcheries, habitat, water consumption, pollution, litter decomposition rates, the three R's, stewardship, and storm drains. Our interactive 'Pollution Soup" demonstration and stream mapping segment are students favourites! Participants come to understand the role of trout hatcheries and learn to evaluate habitat in a number of creative ways.

SCIENTIFISH

Grades 5-7 5 hours, $100.00 per class Scientifish is a practical hands-on five hour program for grades 5-7. In the morning student 'scientists' will examine the water quality of several outdoor sites, use scientific methods to form hypotheses, conduct water quality tests, and interpret data.  Results between sites will be compared and analyzed and 'scientists' will present their results. The afternoon involves the investigation of aquatic organisms and their habitats.  Focus will be on the role of these organisms as bio-indicators of habitat health.  Discoveries made in the morning are compared to the findings from the afternoon and conclusions will be drawn regarding the health of ecosystems.

LEARN TO FISH

All Grades/Ages 4 Hours, $100.00 per class The Learn to Fish program is designed to teach youth all about how to become a responsible angler and respect our freshwater resources. This four hour program includes education surrounding fish identification and biology, freshwater habitats and conservation, technical angling technique, knot tying and gear set-up, ethics and rules, habitat, and water safety. The program is age-specific and presented in a fun, dynamic manner, and includes catch and release fishing at our on-site stocked ponds!

For more information, visit the Learn to Fish section.

The Fraser Valley Trout Hatchery is proud to be a part of the Circle Farm Tour sponsored by Tourism Abbotsford.

Testimonials

"The program was excellent! The trout hatchery is an amazing facility!"
- Abbotsford Electronic School

"A very educational and wonderful experience for my family; my girls really enjoyed it!"
- J. Anderson

"The overall program was excellent. Warm welcome at the door, well organized, superb presentation, much enthusiasm, information for both children and adults, awesome!"
- Gingerbread House Pre-School