2005 news releases
Author: Dave Ewart
Publisher: Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Source: Pacific Currents Issue 3, Volume 8
Date: December 2005
The Quinsam River, a major tributary of Vancouver Island’s Campbell River, is home to several species of Pacific salmon. DFO’s Quinsam Hatchery has operated on the lower Quinsam for over 30 years, contributing coho, chinook, pink, steelhead, and cutthroat salmonids to the system.
However, upstream migration of salmon has been historically difficult on the Quinsam because of a series of falls located approximately 9.5 km from where it meets the Campbell River. When flows are low in the late summer, these cascades have seriously limited how far returning adult salmon can swim to spawn. Pink salmon are most affected because they are the first to return in August and September when flows are at their lowest. When the pink salmon can’t move above the first cascades, they are limited to spawning in marginal habitat; the density of thousands of spawners squeezed into a small area has resulted in poor survival rates. The restricted migration reduces the amount of productivity that could come from the upper river and limits the nutrients that come from the salmon carcasses to a small area.
This problem has been hounding DFO for many years; records of the migration impediment were first recorded by fishery inspectors in the 1930s. Calls for construction of fish passage structures were made at that time and in years since, but they were never followed up on. Since then, demand for water has increased on the river - BC Hydro operates a diversion dam on the upper watershed - and erratic weather and water flow trends have become a serious factor. This came to a head in the fall of 2000 when a very dry spring and summer caused significant low flows in the Quinsam River. It not only affected how BC Hydro used water in the watershed, it also stopped the migration of salmon at the lower cascades for most of the fall migration. Although it was not good for the fish, it did provide a serious opportunity to study the problem.
A working group was formed to look at the problem and come up with solutions. The team was comprised of local DFO staff, the provincial Ministry of Water, Land, & Air Protection, BC Hydro, and the Haig-Brown Institute (a local stewardship group). The institute, under the leadership of Director Jim Van Tine, sponsored the Quinsam River Fish Passage Project. In 2004, a feasibility study was funded by the Pacific Salmon Foundation and BC Hydro Bridge Coastal Fish & Wildlife Restoration Program.
The study, conducted by D.Burt & Associates, determined there was an abundance of diverse habitat for fish in an extensive area above the cascades; in particular, it found there was spawning habitat for nearly 44,000 adult pinks.
As a result of the study, funding was awarded for the construction of fish passage structures in early 2005. Up to $70,566 was available to carry out the project thanks to the BC Hydro Bridge Coastal Fish & Wildlife Restoration Program, the BC Ministry of Transport and the Pacific Salmon Foundation.
The Haig-Brown Institute commissioned the work to construct the fishways during the summer of 2005. The engineering, biological, and design work was carried out as in kind support by DFO staff and technical assistance was provided by Quinsam Hatchery staff. The work began in August, using large excavator machines to chip away the sandstone bedrock of the cascades. This modified the natural channel by creating more pool and run sequences. A total of three cascade areas were modified using this method, and in one difficult area, a substantial channel was built with a gate to control flow around a large bedrock blockage.
The construction was completed by the end of August, just in time for the arrival of the first pink salmon adults.
By early October of this year, over 80,000 pinks were counted upstream of Quinsam Hatchery, with an estimated 30,000 of these passing through the new fishways to upper reaches of the Quinsam River. Although the river did not have flows as low as in previous years, it is expected that these structures will be affective if the river drops to low levels again.
Spawning densities in the lower river should decrease with the new access, improving incubation survival. In the upper river, decaying adult pink carcasses will improve the nutrient level benefiting rearing juveniles including steelhead, coho, chinook, and cutthroat. Increased productivity will improve biodiversity throughout the entire watershed.
For all of the partners involved, congratulations are in order for a very successful project. It could not have been done without the great partnering efforts of all those involved. The DFO staff involved in the project were biologists Shannon Anderson and Mel Sheng, engineering technicians Rik Norgen and Doug Poole, engineers Russ Doucett and Wayne Peterson, habitat technician Rick Senger, and all of the Quinsam Hatchery staff."
