'Unheard of': Tens of thousands of salmon found dead in B.C. creek as drought conditions persist
B.C.'s sunny, dry weather is leading to major drought conditions in parts of the province, causing devastating impacts for some wildlife.
Video posted to social media recently shows tens of thousands of dead salmon lying at the bottom of a dry creek in Bella Bella.
William Housty, conservation manager with the Heiltsuk Nation, told CTV News Vancouver the sight's "unheard of."
"Nobody … that's living here in the community has ever seen anything like this before," Housty said.
The video was captured last week by German researcher Sarah Mund, who was working in the community, but locals didn't see it until Monday. They said they're devastated as they rely on the watershed for food.
"We all knew that it's been a really dry end to the summer and beginning to the fall, but we really didn't anticipate that things were at the magnitude and the scale they're at right now," Housty said.
Salmon experts say it's a growing problem that won't go away easily.
"Unfortunately something I think we're going to see more often as global warming continues at the pace that it's at," Lina Azeez with Watershed Watch Salmon Society told CTV News.
Azeez, who lives in Port Coquitlam, said she's also seen the shocking impacts of the drought in her own backyard.
"I saw a little juvenile salmon at the bottom end of Hyde Creek. As I biked along it, it just suddenly dried out, it was bone dry," she said.
"When salmon go, the building blocks of our coastal ecosystems start to fall apart. We depend on salmon, bears depend on salmon, forests depend on salmon."
Parts of the province have seen record breaking high temperatures in recent days. While no records were broken Tuesday, 16 were on Monday, including many that were decades old.
The continued dry weather is also impacting wildfire conditions in the province, including at a Metro Vancouver park. Crews expect to be at Minnekhada Regional Park for several days, battling a 12-hectare blaze.
The various wildfires have led to air-quality advisories in the province.
"We've been stuck in this (weather) pattern for quite some time and it's expected to continue at least for another several days," Bobby Sekhon with Environment Canada told CTV News Vancouver.
"It's possible that into early next week we might see a bit of a shift in the pattern."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.