No timeline for opening of natural passage for salmon bottleneck on Fraser River
Posted July 31, 2019 2:54 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LILLOOET, B.C. – Officials say they’re working as quickly as possible but can’t determine if they’re on track to create a natural passage at the site of a Fraser River landslide that would allow salmon to reach their spawning grounds.
The slide discovered last month created a five-metre waterfall in a narrow and remote portion of the river near Big Bar north of Lillooet, B.C.
Al Magnan, environmental lead for the team working to help the fish pass, says conditions change every day so crews aren’t working on a timeline. But, he says, they’re not expecting a massive die-off of the fish.
“From a migration point of view, it’s never a linear fish. As part of migrations, there are natural delays in migration, there are natural barriers that take time. So it’s expected that delays happen.”
Millions of fish are expected to reach the site in the coming weeks and Magnan says 40,000 of primarily chinook and sockeye have already been recorded two kilometres downstream from the barrier.
He says crews have transported 1,400 salmon by helicopter but few have been recorded passing the site on their own.
“If natural fish passage is not possible, we are looking at alternate options, which includes a fish ladder,” Magnan says. “A fish ladder is on site, and we can be implementing that on the weekend or next week.”
