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

[The Jackel]

Why next season?

Well i will try and reply and not sound like a grumpy old man who slings weights at other fishers.
1- Read some of wolf's posts over the years about loosing access to the resource
2- Critical habitat for the whales that was brought in last year is the first step in getting recreational and commercial fishing stopped in these areas
3- Once DFO takes something away you will never get it back, if i am wrong please show me, when the 80 cm came in this year i stated to my wife we are going to be stuck with this because after a few weeks of fishing and being able to at least keep a small spring we the rec sector will just sit back and take it
4- We have a weak useless PM running the country who only listens to the FN's and the ENGO's and ignores the science
5- The rock slide in the Fraser is a total disaster and couldn't come at a worse time mind you i don't ever see it coming at a good time period, it is the final nail in the coffin
6- Unless we are stopped from fishing for salmon period the FN's will not stop the slaughter, now if you believe that if we are stopped the FN's will rise to the occasion you are drinking some very strong cool aid
7- Have you noticed the push this season on MPA's, once these are inserted then we are screwed again and this is when they will try and shut down the critical habitat to fishing to save the whales and salmon
8- We need to vote Justine Turdhole out this fall, punt the UN to the curb and run this country for all Canadians not just a select few.
Now i hope that i didn't upset you and was being polite enough so as not to offend you and some others on here, but these are things i see that will dictate why we will be totally screwed next year, other than that everything is grand....

 

[wildmanyeah]

I agree with everything you are saying in just not sure it will be worse next year.

If JT gets voted in again I’m sure the pain will be worse in a few years. He keeps giving away our quota and access.

Maybe I’m trying to be optimistic about next year because I bought to much gear this year and trying to make my self feel like I am going to get a chance to use it.

 

[The Jackel]

Storm i don't recall bagging on you but then apparently i bag on quite a few on here Wildman i hear ya and i hope you are right as for money spent, $2250, bottom paint, $1000 insurance, $750 maintenance, $500 bait, $1000 insurance and $1250 moorage, so $6750.00 in total for me, 1 fisherman spent and i hadn't even caught a salmon at that point, not to mention any tackle and gas i have purchased since

 

[GLG]

July 31, 2019 Big Bar Landslide update.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p...update_big_bar_landslide_incident_july_31.pdf

 

[Whitebuck]

LOFL

 

[tubber]

I saw on the news they were dropping more of the hill into the rapids. I get the concept of dropping in more boulders to form some breaks for the fish, but won't the net result be a narrower, faster flow?
Also the two workers in chest waders pulling a tiny seine by hand seemed dangerous and useless.
Can't they drop a couple high powered rafts in there to pull a bigger net?

 

[fish4all]

Storm i don't recall bagging on you but then apparently i bag on quite a few on here Wildman i hear ya and i hope you are right as for money spent, $2250, bottom paint, $1000 insurance, $750 maintenance, $500 bait, $1000 insurance and $1250 moorage, so $6750.00 in total for me, 1 fisherman spent and i hadn't even caught a salmon at that point, not to mention any tackle and gas i have purchased since

$3800 in licence fees. $3600/yr moorage, $300 log book, $4000 bottom paint and zincs, $$8500 insurance. With no opportunity this season. $20,000 you got off light.

 

[GLG]

Aug 1, 2019 Big Bar Landslide update.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p...pdate_big_bar_landslide_incident_august_1.pdf

 

[islandboy]

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/c...-creates-blockage-for-b-c-salmon-fraser-river

Blasting video

 

[saltcod]

$3800 in licence fees. $3600/yr moorage, $300 log book, $4000 bottom paint and zincs, $$8500 insurance. With no opportunity this season. $20,000 you got off light.

Why is your insurance so high? it seems out of proportion

 

[GLG]

Aug 2, 2019 Big Bar Landslide update.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p...pdate_big_bar_landslide_incident_august_2.pdf

 

[Whitebuck]

Hopefully all the blast rock they are dropping down isn’t going to make even more of a funnel as the water drops!

 

[GLG]

Aug 3, 2019 Big Bar Landslide update.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p...pdate_big_bar_landslide_incident_august_3.pdf

 

[Whitebuck]

60000 plus fish have made it to the sonar counting. Almost 4 months of migration prior to the sonar being put in.
No fish stacked up in the top end of the back eddy.
Fish are Definitely getting by.
3 months of high water...if the majority of the fish were not getting by ,thenwhole soft water area would be black and red fish that could not make it past!

Thanks for the updates for the people not in the loop GLG

 

[GLG]

60000 plus fish have made it to the sonar counting. Almost 4 months of migration prior to the sonar being put in.
No fish stacked up in the top end of the back eddy.
Fish are Definitely getting by.
3 months of high water...if the majority of the fish were not getting by ,then whole soft water area would be black and red fish that could not make it past!

Thanks for the updates for the people not in the loop GLG

There are two hydroacoustic monitoring stations at the landslide area. One is at Big Bar approximately 2 km downstream of the slide. At the last media briefing on July 31 they reported 40,000 fish had passed by. The other station, upstream of the slide, numbers were not reported but they did say that very few had passed by since they installed it. I sure hope you are right that lots of fish have made it past but from my other sources, I can tell you, they do not share your view. With some of the new rock placing maybe the upstream station will start producing some numbers.

A recording of the media briefing can be found here.
https://soundcloud.com/bcgov/big-bar-landslide-media-briefing-july-31

 

[Whitebuck]

With all due respect, asides from Dale Michie, I do not have much faith in this team or your "sources".


IMO this is just another case of DFO to little to late. They are however putting on a great show for the clueless general public.

On the bright side at least we are actually going to get some solid facts on numbers migrating in the area.

With the how much the Fraser will be dropping in the next 5 weeks it will be interesting to see the results of the rock they are dropping on the inside of the rapid. I can’t understand why they are not blasting the other side. By dropping debris they are just creating more of a funnel in the weeks to come.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Says there should be about 40k sockeye there right now, that doesn't count any of the chinook and based on the estimates for Early Fraser chinook, that apparently have come in above forecasted means there is a hell of a lot of fish there. Unless the chinook got by. If the early fraser chinook were all sitting there should be zombie fish there now.

Again i'm not trying to downplay this as it is a crisis and according to them no tagged fish have made it past just pointing out that some things don't seem to be adding up.

https://www.psc.org/publications/fr...formation/fraser-river-panel-weekly-reports/#

The Fraser River Panel (Panel) met today to review assessment data on Fraser River sockeye and pink salmon. The landslide at Big Bar continues to be a major source of concern for the Panel as migrating sockeye salmon will need to pass this area to reach their spawning grounds. Based on abundances observed at Mission, it is estimated that about 38,000 sockeye will have reached the Big Bar site as of August 2, of which 23,000 are Early Stuart sockeye. Since July 12, 2019, approximately 40,000 salmon, both sockeye and Chinook, have been accounted for at the hydroacoustic site downstream of the slide. As of August 1, approximately 2,300 sockeye and Chinook salmon have been transported upstream from the slide via helicopter. A fish-wheel has been delivered to aid with the capture of fish to move them upstream. Rock manipulations in the slide area continue to facilitate the restoration of a natural fish passage. Salmon also continue to be radio tagged to monitor the upstream movement of salmon. Some of the tagged fish have been transported by helicopter to evaluate the success of the upstream relocation efforts. Excluding the salmon transported by helicopter, none of the radio tagged salmon released below the slide have been detected above the Big Bar slide thus far. A total of 177 Early Stuart sockeye have been transported to Cultus Lake lab for a pilot enhancement program. For further information on the landslide please see the web link in Table 1 at the end of this report.

 

[chris73]

Aug 3, 2019 Big Bar Landslide update.
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/p...pdate_big_bar_landslide_incident_august_3.pdf

Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to blast out the rock protrusion on the other side of the river instead of throwing more debris into the constriction? It seems there is an opportunity to widen the channel, why they wouldn't go for that is beyond me.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to blast out the rock protrusion on the other side of the river instead of throwing more debris into the constriction? It seems there is an opportunity to widen the channel, why they wouldn't go for that is beyond me.

You mean like removing this chunk? seems logical to me

 

[Whitebuck]

As the water drops the more debris on the blast side will create more of a funnel. They need to be blasting the other side as well.

This among many other reasons is why I don’t have much faith in this team of experts.