Image Credit: B.C. Fish and Wildfire

By Doug Collins

BIG BAR SLIDE

Work is slow but steady at Big Bar slide

Aug 16, 2019 | 7:52 AM

BIG BAR, B.C. — There’s still a long way to go to solve the problem of fish trying to spawn up the Fraser River near Big Bar, but crews are making headway slowly.

A report last night (August 15) from the senior levels of government indicates that salmon continue to be moved above a slide that blocked the migration streams, but there are still many waiting to get up river to spawn.

An expert panel of technical experts and First Nations leaders visited the site Wednesday to discuss ideas to try to resolve the challenges.

One of the problems has been access to the site to try to make the area easier for the fish to migrate upstream. Scalers have started building a trail to the base of the site from the staging area. That would mean they can access the site by foot and boat and not the slower and more dangerous route down the rock face.

Beach seining and fish wheel operations to assist helicopter transport are also continuing.

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To date, 10,765 Sockeye have been choppered above the site, and 3,677 Chinook have also been moved.

Although the slide was reported in June, the government says after examining satellite imagery, it may have actually occurred in late October or early November of last year. The area is largely inaccessible, which would account for the delay in finding the slide.