CBC –
Scientists fear that some Fraser River salmon populations could be wiped out completely following a landslide that has blocked part of the critical B.C. migration route for the last year.
Federal government scientists told the Pacific Salmon Commission there is a “meaningful chance of extinction” for three salmon runs after the Big Bar landslide, according to a copy of a PowerPoint presentation, dated Oct. 16, obtained by CBC News.
That includes the Early Stuart sockeye and the Mid-Fraser and Upper Fraser Spring 1.3 chinook populations.
But despite that effort, prospects are dismal for the salmon in the upper reaches of the river, according to Dean Werk, president of the Fraser Valley Salmon Society.
“We’re talking about virtually a collapse — a total collapse — of the salmon stocks above the Big Bar slide,” Werk told CBC.
“This is devastating to the wild salmon population. Some of those upper river streams were supposed to be the largest component of this year’s sockeye run.”