Question Period Note: Conservation and Protection – Big Bar

• Restoring natural fish passage in the area, as well as worker and public safety, remain top priorities for our government.
• Short and long term efforts, including developing mitigation plans and alternative fish passage systems, are ongoing and we are making steady progress to reduce the impact of the landslide on future salmon stocks.
• A number of measures are being taken to assist salmon to return to the streams where their lifecycle began.
• One measure is a nature-like fishway, where boulders have been strategically placed to providing resting areas for salmon. This route will be most available when lower water volumes are moving through the Fraser River.
• As well, a temporary fish ladder is currently being constructed, that will allow salmon to move upstream to a holding area, from which salmon would be moved by a series of tubes or, in the case of equipment failure, trucks further upstream above the landslide. This system would be used when water volumes are higher.
• We recently completed the blasting of the East toe section of the project that will remove another barrier to migration.
• And, we will also have monitoring systems including hydro acoustic monitoring using sonar systems and a radio tagging system that will monitor the movement of fish.
• We are coordinating with two technical working groups to inform our contingency planning and will continue to work with our First Nations and provincial partners, to restore natural fish passage at the site of the Big Bar Landslide.

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