Salmon getting through Big Bar slide area prompts excitement in Indigenous communities

Salmon getting through Big Bar slide area prompts excitement in Indigenous communities

Source: globalnews

8/12/2022

Salmon getting through Big Bar slide area prompts excitement in Indigenous communities

Thousands of migrating sockeye and chinook salmon appear to be making it through the Big Bar slide area on the Fraser River on their way to spawn.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says 280,000 salmon have already been counted above the slide site north of Lillooet, contrasting greatly from three years ago when barely 100 salmon were counted.

Gord Sterritt, a director of the group Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance, says there is excitement within Indigenous communities about the potential arrival and harvest of wild salmon.

In 2019, a rock slide of about 110,000 cubic metres falling into the river canyon was reported to authorities and created an almost impassable barrier for migrating salmon.