Rock slide blocks salmon path in Fraser River

A rock slide has blocked a large part of Fraser River and prevents salmons from swimming upstream.

The rock slide that occurred in a remote area west of Clinton, located in British Columbia, Canada on June, 2019, has created a 5-meter height waterfall which has become an insuperable barrier for the salmons.

Some believe that if the fish can't get upstream to lay their eggs, the population of salmon in the region will be in danger. It is expected that about 3.5 million salmons, in total, will reach that point of the river.

On July, 20, 2019, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Canadian department responsible for managing Canada's fisheries, oceans and freshwater resources and British Columbia officials came up with a radical solution. The whole salmon population that is gathered in the river will be flown over the rock barrier by helicopter.

Currently, a small pool that will be used to hold the salmon population is engineered. Salmons will be then transferred into aluminium tanks that will be equipped with oxygenated water. Finally, helicopters will fly the tanks above the rock slide and release the salmons into the river to continue their journey. 

Officials are constantly tagging salmons in order to track their route afterwards and to investigate on how many of them can surpass the blockage by themselves. It is believed that only 700 of them have managed to go over the barrier without any help.

Experts are currently using pneumatic drills to remove the loose rocks from the cliff and to make the site safe for workers. On July, 22, a hazardous rock block that was hanging over the slide, was removed with a blasting operation.