A person painting a yellow fish on the roadway

Yellow Fish Program

Get involved

Arrange to pick up your free marking kit and start painting.

Help us mark yellow fish symbols next to catch basins to raise awareness about protecting our waterways.

When you participate, you help remind everyone that what enters these drains can affect local wildlife, including fish and ducks.

Program overview
Who can participate

The program is open to everyone including students, environmental and church groups, and anyone who is curious about how our behaviours and sewer system impact the environment, and how to protect it.

How to choose a catch basin using the Adopt-a-City platform

You can choose catch basins by registering for the Adopt-a-City platform and selecting a catch basin from the Yellow Fish Program.

You may already be registered for the platform through other City programs such as Adopt-a-Catch Basin or Snow Angels.

If a marked catch basin isn't shown on our map, email [email protected] to update it.

Marking the catch basins

We provide supplies needed to mark the catch basins.

There are 2 ways you can mark the fish on the pavement next to the catch basin:
- Paint with a stencil
- Apply a decal using a rubber mallet
Educational doorhangers

Your marking kit includes door hangers to use in the neighborhood where you mark your fish. The doorhangers help spread awareness about the program.
Safety tips

Participation guidelines

While this program is for everyone, we recommend that only children old enough to understand road safety participate.

Traffic safety

Be alert for traffic. Our kits include reflective traffic cones to warn drivers and hi-vis vests for safety. Always wear a safety vest or bright clothing, and have someone watch for cars while others mark the catch basins.

Handling hazards

Do not attempt to move or pick up hazardous materials like needles, broken glass, or deceased wildlife. Report hazardous materials including discarded needles and other issues with Van311 or phone 3-1-1.

Catch basin locations

For safety, we've listed only catch basins on local paved streets. If you know of a catch basin that should be added, email us at [email protected]. If a listed catch basin is in an unsafe area or on an unpaved road, let us know so we can remove it from our platform.
Actions that protect our environment
Water moving through our sewer systems collects pollutants like motor oil, fertilizers, heavy metals, and litter, which eventually contaminate water bodies such as the Fraser River, Burrard Inlet, False Creek, and English Bay.

These pollutants harm aquatic life. Simple actions, such as disposing of waste properly and avoiding pesticides, can significantly protect our environment.

Avoid polluting our waterways
- Keep trash and dog waste out of yards, parks, and streets where it can be swept into adjacent waterways by rain or melting snow.
- Keep your car in good repair to reduce the leaking of oil, coolant, antifreeze, and other nasty liquids that are carried by rainwater down driveways or through parking lots into our sewer system.
Choose safe fertilizers and dispose pesticides safely
- Use organic fertilizers made from manure or composted sewer sludge. Fertilize twice a year maximum.
- Never pour pesticides onto your lawn, down a catch basin, or down any household drains. Find locations to drop off your labeled pesticides for free disposal
Use a car wash
- Don’t wash your car in the street, go to a car wash. Washing your car on the street sends dirty water and soap into catch basins, harming waterways. Car washes use recirculating water which means they use up to 7 times less water and the dirty water goes to the wastewater treatment plant.
- If you can't make it to a car wash:
  - Choose gravel driveways or lawns for car washing to reduce runoff into drains and oceans. Soaps contain surfactants, which are difficult to remove in wastewater treatment and can harm fish and aquatic plants.
  - Use a bucket and spring-loaded spray valve to reduce water use.
Handle spills carefully
- Never clean up a spill by hosing it into a catch basin. Place kitty litter, sand, sawdust, old towels and rags, or another absorbent on the spill.
- Once the liquid becomes solid, sweep it up. If possible, recycle the solids.
- Search Recyclepedia or Metro Vancouver Recycles to find a location that will take household hazardous waste for a fee.
- If you are unable to take it for recycling, you should double bag it and put it in your garbage.
Dispose household chemicals properly
- Don't pour unused household cleaners on the ground or into catch basins. Try to find someone who can use it before you recycle or dispose of it. These chemicals could contaminate the soil, groundwater, or nearby waterways.
- A number of products used at home contain hazardous or toxic substances that can contaminate ground or surface waters. Check Recyclepedia or Metro Vancouver Recycles for how to dispose of it and if you can’t find it listed, check under “household hazardous waste”.