Fraser River slide: Salmon passing through site, officials considering permanent fix
Officials say thousands of migrating salmon are making their way past an area of British Columbia's Fraser River where a waterway was restructured following a massive rock slide more than two years ago.
Gwil Roberts, the Fisheries Department's director for the Big Bar landslide response, says 79,000 sockeye and chinook salmon have been counted passing through the site and sonar systems are not detecting delays of migrating salmon.
He says the design of a less treacherous route through the slide zone and low river levels this summer are helping salmon get to their upstream spawning grounds, but finding a permanent solution for the fish to navigate the area is now on hold.
The survival of valuable Fraser River salmon runs was threatened when a slide of more than 85,000 cubic metres of rock ended up in the river and created a five-metre waterfall that trapped the fish below.
Roberts says this year's completion of a protected fishway at the slide site is allowing salmon to make it upstream on their own after earlier efforts to truck them past the area or propel them in a tube with a so-called fish cannon.
He says plans to install a permanent fishway at the slide site by next May have been delayed due to safety and weather issues, while the provincial government as well as local Indigenous groups consider a long-term solution.
“We have passage this year,” Roberts told a news conference. “That's a tremendously good sign.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
First court appearance for boy and girl charged in death of Halifax 16-year-old
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.