North Shore Rescue: they save humans, occasional dogs and now, maybe salmon.
The local volunteer group may be part of a Herculean effort that’s required to bypass a 50,000-cubic-metre granite hurdle to allow thousands of coho and pink salmon and steelhead trout to return to the Seymour River.
The fate of the Seymour as a valuable salmon spawning ground is at stake following a massive rock slide that fell into the upper river canyon last December.
Juvenile salmon headed downstream that are being remotely tracked are currently trapped above the slide, which is concerning to Seymour Salmonid Society president Shaun Hollingsworth.
“If these fish remain cut off from their spawning habitats, Seymour’s wild steelhead and coho populations will likely be reduced to mere remnants, and in the case of summer-run steelhead, may ultimately disappear,” said Hollingsworth.
In the interim, stewards of the Seymour River want to help the salmon along by scooping them up from a pool below the rock slide and then releasing the fish into their 40,000-square-metre spawning habitat beyond the barrier.
That’s where North Shore Rescue comes in. While the details are still being worked out, the plan is to have salmon society volunteers net the fish from the pool while rescuers hoist the salmon six at a time in metal coolers back up the steep canyon wall using a 30-metre high line. The salmon would then be transported in a tank to the hatchery upstream.
North Shore Rescue team leader Mike Danks sees it as a win-win for both organizations involved.
“The way we kind of looked at it is it would be excellent training for our members to set up a high line. “It seems like a good fit to assist them (Salmonid Society) in the predicament that they are in,” said Danks.
Now all they need is for the fish to show up. Hollingsworth is expecting approximately 3,600 coho salmon to return to the Seymour River this summer.
For now the salmon are holding tight at the mouth of the Seymour waiting for the water to cool down from the current 23 degrees Celsius range to around 15 C. Low water levels in the river are also a deterrent for migrating fish.
A long-term solution to save the Seymour’s fish population is being explored through an engineering assessment of the slide area, being funded by The Pacific Salmon Foundation, the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation and the Freshwater Fisheries Society of B.C.
Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation CEO Brian Springinotic said the Seymour River is a high priority because, “It’s a very unusual river in that it has both winter and summer run steelhead — and that’s quite uncommon in B.C.”
A good part of the granite needs to be removed to make the river passable for fish again, said Hollingsworth. Residents living near the Seymour River and the stability of the canyon are also to be considered before any work is done.
A less intrusive option might be to drill holes in the rock and inject an expanding grout that causes them to crack into smaller pieces, said Hollingsworth.
Another solution might be creating a series of waterfalls or natural ladders that fish can leap.
Once the Salmonid Society receives the report it will have to be approved by the District of North Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, federal and provincial agencies, and the local First Nations before any work is started.
