Rock slide in Fraser River, B.C., may hinder salmon passage

[wildmanyeah]

https://www.mapleridgenews.com/opinion/along-the-fraser-will-there-be-salmon-five-years-from-now/

Along the Fraser: Will there be salmon five years from now?

 

[Dave]

What I find interesting is the lack of reports of dead salmon downstream of the slide. By all accounts there should have been a few hundred thousand carcasses; this is valuable information because DFO has always wondered if counting floaters could be correlated to pre spawning mortalities on the Fraser River.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1577/M06-098.1

 

[terrin]

What I find interesting is the lack of reports of dead salmon downstream of the slide. By all accounts there should have been a few hundred thousand carcasses; this is valuable information because DFO has always wondered if counting floaters could be correlated to pre spawning mortalities on the Fraser River.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1577/M06-098.1

The media does not spend much resources to get reporters on site to report the news anymore. Just reley on government reports and thus repeat the official spin. I'm sure with drone technology the media could easily have done some independant observations. From some of the footage I saw there were a lot of pooling fish that were very dark and unlikely to be able to survive much longer. I think the MapleRidge news article is right on in that this is a disaster of epic porportion that may have been preventable if earlier intervention due to regular river surveilance was done. They seem to have a lot of chopters available to count the odd sporty doing catch and release up and down the coast all winter and spring.

 

[Whitebuck]

DFO trying to sweep this catastrophe under the carpet....
The general public should be told exactly the severity of this without sugar coating it with daily numbers of fish passage making it look like everything is ok.

What is the new up to date numbers for tributaries?

 

[Cuba Libre]

These events are natural hazards. We will see more. Interestingly nature has a way of dealing with them usually....water levels dropped and the fish swam along. Hmmm. Seems to me that we sometimes can benefit from sitting back a bit before we act, and develop an understanding of how mother nature might bat last in the game. I'm not against taking action, just think it makes more sense to work with nature.

Unless you have a chrystal ball and can predict the future, the risk is too great just to sit back and "hope" for the best. Kudos to the team that took on a nasty dangerous job. Did they help ? I dont know--- but their cautious approach is heads and shoulders over the "NUKE UP " crowd that wanted to bring in the airforce ..... and the few that wanted to leave it to God........

 

[GLG]

Sept 22, 2019 Big Bar Landslide Update

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p...update_big_bar_landslide_incident_sept_22.pdf

 

[GLG]

Sept 24, 2019 Big Bar Landslide Update

• The spider excavator has successfully made its way to the base of the slide and is working to break up large rock.

• Due to high winds gusting to 50km/h scalers were not able to work all of yesterday and were pulled off mid afternoon.

• The current priority for scalers and rope technicians is installing anchors by drilling into the rocks on the east and west side of the river to allow a highline cable to be installed from the top of the west slope to the base of the east to improve crew and equipment access to water level. Additional anchors will also allow cross river highlines to be installed to allow crews to access, drill, and blast various mid river boulders as water levels drop.

more info with this link
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p...update_big_bar_landslide_incident_sept_24.pdf

 

[wildmanyeah]

interesting sounds like they are going the blasting route rather then the hells gate fish ladder route.

 

[searun]

Would make more sense to await lower water, then consider options such as constructing a fish ladder by working with some of the existing boulders...or perhaps that is now the plan? As I stated, I'm not against taking action, just questioning moving ahead without first seeing what we are actually dealing with. Breaking up boulders before we understand the hydrology of various flow levels and how to create fish passage seems like ready, shoot, aim to me.

 

[Whitebuck]

Any word on final counts for early and mid summer Chinook?

No more daily counts GLG ?

 

[wildmanyeah]

The last response update was september 26th

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/...ar-landslide-incident?keyword=big&keyword=bar

you could email them and see if they have any more updates

• bigbarlandslidein@gov.bc.ca

 

[wildmanyeah]

Dig It: Salmon below the slide through the ages

https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/community/dig-it-salmon-below-the-slide-through-the-ages-1.23962899

 

[terrin]

It's been a year since the slide occured. Hopefully there is a plan to do what is necessary during the time of year that allows for that so we don't have more zomby fish milling around next year. Don't hear anything though.

 

[Whitebuck]

Sent a message to a friend within DFO to find out what the final counts were, waiting on a reply.
Extinction level early Chinook returns was what was last counted end of August...hopefully something changed.

Still waiting on a plan for what is going to happen next freshet. We are less than 6months away from our first early Chinook that will be migrating through this area. With Freshet happening earlier and earlier each year let’s hope there is action soon. Lots of good people and very good FN in the Upper Fraser area who are more than willing to help!

For most of these rivers hatchery enhancement will be the only way that any of these rivers recover. I really hope that the upper Fraser First Nations are holding are government accountable for this. As we all know that is the only way that any action will be taken.

 

[wildmanyeah]

I've been told that final returns will not be available this fall. Will be available in the spring.

 

[Dave]

I've been told that final returns will not be available this fall. Will be available in the spring.

If that's true it's total ********. It's mid October; what remains of this cycles early run Fraser chinook have long finished spawning and any dead recovery will be as good as over. The numbers are known.
The only excuse possible is the department wants to include mid and late run stocks in the final escapement numbers , and that would unacceptable given the interest.

 

[wildmanyeah]

If that's true it's total ********. It's mid October; what remains of this cycles early run Fraser chinook have long finished spawning and any dead recovery will be as good as over. The numbers are known.
The only excuse possible is the department wants to include mid and late run stocks in the final escapement numbers , and that would unacceptable given the interest.

They released in season return data in the past, This is the first year that most of it has not been posted in notices. I made inquiries about it. Not going to be available by November , Sometime after that it will be available. OH its VERY much BS

 

[Whitebuck]

I have gotten the return info usually mid to end of October each year. It's always known before November.

Don't know who told you that info?

 

[wildmanyeah]

I have gotten the return info usually mid to end of October each year. It's always known before Novemeber.

Don't know who told you that info?

dont want to name names.

get it and share it please

Thanks

 

[wildmanyeah]

Chum is closing next week for fraser river and all its tributaries