Big Bar/Lilooett (with files from DFO/CP/MSN) – The early 2019 runs of Stuart and Chinook salmon were devastated because they couldn’t make it past the massive Big Bar landslide on the Fraser River.
Officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans told a commons committee briefing on Tuesday (June 9) that 98 per cent of early Stuart and 89 per cent of early Chinook were lost.
Rebecca Reid, the department’s regional director for DFO Pacific, says salmon survival improved later in the summer when work begun to transport fish past the slide, helping them get to their spawning grounds.
It’s believed the massive slide on the river occurred in fall of 2018 north of Lillooet, but it wasn’t discovered until last June after fish had already begun arriving.
Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan says about 60,000 fish were helped over the slide last year, while 220,000 made it past the site on their own once water volume dropped.
So far, Jordan says just two Chinook have been observed arriving this year.
From DFO – This week, river levels subsided and allowed prime contractor, Peter Kiewit Sons ULC (Kiewit), to advance work at the Big Bar landslide site. However, weather conditions continue to challenge the crews onsite. Kiewit’s focus at the West Beach concentrated on the installation of the Whooshh Passage Portal™ and building the infrastructure required for its operation. Crews completed the platform on which the Whooshh™ system is to be mounted. Work continues on anchoring the hanger system for the high tension cables that will support the transport tubes. Other related efforts this week included:
•scaling the rock face to mount the variable-height Whooshh™ tube release system,
•fitting the water pipe system to supply the Whooshh™ and concrete fish ladder,
•installing electrical control components,
•fabricating and building a system of catwalks within the upper section of the concrete fish ladder, and
•set-up and testing of the water pumps.DFO and First Nation fisheries technicians prepared and tested the equipment at the concrete fish ladder as part of the “truck and transport” system.
This system will be used to transport fish for release upstream at French Bar Creek just until the Whooshh™ is operational.
As of June 3, the French Bar Creek Fish Holding Facility is fully operational. It will support emergency conservation enhancement efforts.Fish selected for the enhancement program will be genetically tested and then transported to one of several hatcheries. The genetic testing identifies the stock or origin of each salmon.
Finally, regarding the arrival of salmon at the site, only two chinook have been observed to date.
