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The Federal and BC governments are considering an apparatus known as a salmon cannon to help move the large group of fish trapped by a recent landslide.
In June, a landslide created a five-metre wall in the Fraser River near Big Bar north of Kamloops that continues to block hundreds of thousands of chinook salmon from migrating upstream.
A system of pressurized tubes dubbed the “salmon cannon” is now being considered to move the fish from below the blockage to above it.
Another option is using the salmon cannon to move the fish into a position that would allow a truck or helicopter to transport them.
“Action will not be taken until rock stability is confirmed and the river bank directly below where the slide occurred is deemed operable,” stated a document released Monday.
Time is becoming a factor for the operation as more than a million sockeye salmon are expected to migrate to the same area in early August.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada have implemented new restrictions because of the slide in an effort to offset “permanent loss” to the chinook populations.
With files from the Canadian Press.
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