Seymour Salmonid Society
Seymour Salmonid Society
The Province
Concern is mounting over the future of sensitive fish runs along the Seymour River following last year’s gigantic rock slide.
The Dec. 7 slide in North Vancouver sent more than 50,000 cubic metres of debris into the river, causing a major blockage and the creation of a new lake more than 15-metres deep and 700-m long. Rocks the size of small homes came cascading down the steep slope after a period of record-setting rainfall.
Both officials at the Seymour Salmonid Society and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) have begun assessing the long-range implications to the fish habitat and critical spawning grounds as the winter steelhead run is now underway.
As designated anglers catch steelhead in the lower Seymour area, society staff will tag the fish. They will then be able to place a transceiver above the old Twin Bridges crossing to monitor the fish as they try to swim through the clogged area.
“The first stage is to prove whether this slide is an actual barrier to the adult migration,” said Brian Smith, the non-profit society’s hatchery manager. “It is not free-flowing like it used to be. If the fish get through, great. If not, we go to the next steps.”