The clock is ticking for teams trying to clear a rockslide blocking crucial salmon runs on the Fraser River near Lillooet.
Crews have managed to capture 5,000 salmon and move them by helicopter above the slide, but tens of thousands are still waiting, and millions more are making their way there.
“At this stage, approximately 90,000 salmon have been recorded in the river below the barrier,” said Fisheries minister Jonathan Wilkinson. “Somewhere in the range of another two million salmon are expected to reach the slide site in the course of this coming month.”
The effort to move the salmon by helicopter is continuing, but crews are also working to clear a natural path through the boulders that are blocking the migration route.
“With salmon, they effectively are not eating once they enter the river, so they have a certain amount of energy they can expend," Wilkinson said. "They can't sit below the rockslide forever. So there is urgency finding a way to get them up.”
If a route through can’t be found, crews have also built a fish ladder that could help the salmon swim up over the slide. And the Fisheries Minister hasn’t ruled out “The Whoosh,” an invention by a Seattle-based company that claims it could move as many as 50 thousand salmon a day.
If crews fail to safely get the migrating salmon through the blockade, it would be catastrophic for First Nations who depend on the fish for food.
“It is a complete natural disaster that we have in front of us,” said Grand Chief Ed John. “To call it a rockslide is an underestimation.”
The Fisheries Minister agrees.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Wilkinson admitted. “And this is absolutely a critical issue that will have long-term repercussions if we can’t find a way to get the fish up.”
