Growing fears that flooding has damaged salmon runs in urban rivers and creeks
CTV
There are some major concerns about Vancouver Island's urban rivers and creeks after heavy rains caused them to overflow their banks.
“My marine biologist people feel that this has really done a lot of damage to our salmon run this year,” said Dorothy Chamber, of the Salmon in the City Project.
On Tuesday, the Colquitz River was five feet higher than it currently is.
Raging waters pushed logs and other debris down the river.
“Which then takes out the reds, which is the gravel nest where the salmon eggs are,” said Chambers.
This year has been a challenging one for coho salmon in the Colquitz.
Summer drought nearly dried up the river. Then otters got into fish counting pens and ate a good number of returning salmon. Now, it’s too much water, all at once, that has possibly wiped out any progress the salmon did manage to make.
It’s not all bad news though. The damage could have been worse, according to Eva Riccius, Senior Manager of Saanich Parks.
Last September, Saanich completed work on the river, creating side pools in increase salmon habitat. Those pools overflowed during the heavy rains, but that also took pressure off of the river, slowing it down and preventing further damage.
